T&T’s 15-17 Boys’ 400m freestyle relay quartet of USA-based Zarek Wilson, Zachary Anthony, Josiah Changar, and Nikoli Blackman closed off the opening night of finals at the 36th Caribbean Free Trade Association Aquatics (Carifta) Championships in record-shattering style at the Enith Brigitha Swimming Pool of the Centro Deportivo Korsou in Curacao on Thursday.
Competing in the 26th and final event on the first of four days of competition among the 26 nations, the T&T quartet combined for a time of three minutes, 32.32 seconds to better the 2019 mark of 3:33.68 set by the Bahamas. This time around, the Bahamians were relegated to silver in 3:34.12 while Aruba (3:38.14) got bronze.
Liam Carrington, also 14, had earlier on the night set a new games record in the 13-14 Boys 50m backstroke when he touched the wall in 27.34 seconds to better the old mark while St Lucian Antoine Destang finished in the second spot in 28.03, and T&T Darren Belfon got bronze in 28.61.
The 13-14 T&T Boys 400m freestyle relay foursome of USA-based Liam Roberts, Carrington, Christiano Rivas, and Belfon took gold in three minutes, 44.05 seconds well clear of Aruba (3:49.78), and Bahamas (3:49.99).
The USA-Collegiate-bound duo of Wilson, and Blackman led T&T to a one-two finish in the 15-17 Boys 50m backstroke with times of 26.74, and 27.00 seconds while Bahamian Marvin Johnson took bronze in 27.66.
Roberts, 14, and also based in the USA swam to this country’s first gold medal in the 13-14 Boys 200m breaststroke in two minutes, 30.01 seconds, just ahead of Bahamian Tristen Hepburn who clocked 2:31.31 minutes, while T&T’s other entrant, Anpherne Bernard took bronze in 2:34.01.
Earlier on the night, 17-year-old Blackman of Fatima College, the three-time reigning First Sports Foundation “Junior Sportsman of the Year” who has committed to the University of Tennessee, earned T&T’s first medal at the four-day championship when he secured bronze in the Boys 13 and Over 1,500m freestyle in 16 minutes, 46.46 seconds to finish behind Guyana’s Raekwon Noel who won in 16:17.92, with Martinique’s Kimani Bellanger, the winner in 2022 ending with the silver medal this time out in 16:24.48.
The pair of Blackman (55.46), and Wilson (56.14) were second and third respectively in the 15-17 Boys’ 100m butterfly which was won by Bahamian Nigel Forbes in 54.73.
Belfon added a bronze in the 13-14 Boys 100m butterfly in 59.88, as he finished behind Destang who won gold in 56.52, and runner-up Christian Jerome of Haiti who clocked 57.30,
Other T&T swimmers in finals were but just finishing out of the medals were Aaron Siewlal, fourth in the 11-12 Boys 100m butterfly in 1:09.61 minutes, and Zoe Anthony, fifth in the 15-17 Girls 200m breaststroke in 2:53.43 mins.
Overall, T&T finished the first night of finals with 12 medals, five gold, two silver, and five bronze which for coach Mark Pouchet was a satisfied man saying, “I’m very pleased with the first night of competition for us.
“We had a slight hiccup at the start with Aaron Siewlal having a bad start in his event which he ended up in a fourth spot in, but other than that things went according to plan for us, in terms of medals won.
“We are now focussed on adding to that tally night and night and hopefully some more records come our way as well,” stated Pouchet.
And in the second morning of preliminary heats yesterday, T&T again had several swimmers advancing to the evening session finals led by the trio of 200m freestyle swimmers Harmoni Nelson, Carrington, and Blackman; Belfon, Wilson, and Blackman in the 50m butterfly; Carrington, Belfon, and Wilson in the 100m backstroke, and Zachary Anthony in the 400m individual medley, and the 13-14 and 15-17 boys 400m medley relay foursomes.
Over the four days of swimming, Blackman will compete in 18 swimming events, individual and relays combined, as well as the Open Water 5k swim. Wilson will face the starter in 14 events combined as T&T seeks to improve on their fifth-place showing from last year in Barbados, where they copped 355 points to finish behind Bahamas who retained its stranglehold on the title with 975 points, with Jamaica a distant second with 833.5, Cayman Islands, third with 754 and host Barbados, fourth with 519.
The trio of Zachary Anthony (ten), Belfon (12), and Carrington (15) while among the girls’ Zoe Anthony competes in six events.
In addition to T&T, and host Curacao, the other participating countries include Antigua & Barbuda, Guyana, Aruba, Haiti, Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados, Martinique, Bermuda, St Kitts & Nevis, Bonaire, St Lucia, British Virgin Islands, St Maarten, Cayman Islands, St Martin, Curaçao, St Vincent & The Grenadines, Dominica, Suriname, French Guiana, Grenada, Turks & Caicos, Guadeloupe, and US Virgin Islands.
Last year in Barbados, T&T represented by its smallest contingent ever of 13 swimmers won 35 medals (11 gold, 11 silver, and 13 bronze) with Blackman copping the 15-17 High Point Age-Group, and FINA High Point awards.
This after he won four individual gold medals and three via relays to go along with four silver and three bronze for a tally of 14 medals while Wilson captured two individual gold and three relay top finishes, as well as three silver and one bronze to be T&T’s next best swimmer.
The Cayman Islands topped the medal table with 57 (25 gold, 23 silver, and nine bronze), while Barbados was second with 41 (22 gold, seven silver, and 12 bronze), Jamaica was third with 64 (17 gold, 25 silver, and 22 bronze), Bahamas fourth with 65, the most medals overall (14 gold, 22 silver, and 29 bronze).
The meet for the Caribbean swimmer has been given an added interest as FINA has approved the Carifta 2023 as a qualifying event for the Olympic Games for Paris 2024, World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka, Japan, 2023, and the World Aquatics Championships Doha, Qatar, 2024.
