Barbados Shows Improvement at CARIFTA Aquatics Championships, Eyes Further Growth

Despite capturing 37 medals at the recently concluded CARIFTA Aquatics Championships, there are still some areas which Barbados needs to improve on.

That is according to the team’s head coach, Dave Farmer, who while lauding the performance of the island’s swimmers, admitted that the team which travelled to the Bahamas was undersized.

Barbados’ 23-member squad collected two more medals than they did in 2023, but finished one spot lower in fifth position behind powerhouses The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.

Their 37 medals comprised 15 gold, 15 silver and seven bronze medals.

“I thought we did a very good job. The team really performed well. We exceeded our medal count from previous years, we had 37 medals in total which is a good achievement for us, so the team performed very well and everyone gave of their best,” Farmer told members of the media moments after the team arrived home on Thursday night.

“They did quite well last year, they just had two more medals this year, but the team has been working hard. Some of our swimmers have been training for this event since September, October last year. Obviously they had competitions in between but their main goal was to perform well at CARIFTA.

“This means we could have a bright future but obviously it means a lot of our age group swimmers need to step up to the plate because there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We had a 23-member squad but a full team is in excess of 36, so we are still lacking in some categories and we need to get those gaps filled,” he pointed out.

Barbados was led by the impressive Heidi Stoute, who broke four CARIFTA records in the girls’ 13-14 division on her way to amassing six individual gold medals, along with three relay golds and one silver.

Her performance earned her the Federation international de natation (FINA) High Point Award.

Stoute said she was pleased with her accomplishments at the Championships.

“I’m very happy with my performance to bring home these medals for Barbados, not just for myself. I would like to thank everybody who is involved in getting us there…I really do appreciate it and I’m sure the whole team does. We did very well and I’m very happy with what we brought home,” she said.

“The competition was good, it definitely pushed me but it was fun and I definitely enjoyed it.”

Stoute said she was now looking towards the CCCAN meet which is scheduled to be held in June in Mexico.

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb