Vincentian swimmers perform well in World Championships

Storm Halbich, Shne Joachim and Nikolas Sylvester represented St Vincent and the Grenadines at the 15th FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, from July 28 to August 4.{{more}}

All three swimmers smashed their personal best times and proved they are now among the top swimmers in the Caribbean region.

Storm Halbich was the first to take to the pool in the 100 metre Breaststroke, finishing in a personal best time of 1.24.08, a total of 4.35 seconds faster than his previous best time. He then went on to compete in the 50 metre Backstroke in a time of 34.2 seconds, another personal best by 1.58 seconds.

St Vincent’s Shne Joachim was next to shine in the water. She swam the 100 metre Breaststroke in a time of 1.23.09, destroying her personal best by over two seconds. Joachim then delivered St Vincent’s most outstanding swim of the competition in the 50 metre Breaststroke, producing a time of 35.76 seconds, not only smashing her personal best time by over one second, but Joachim’s outstanding performance beats the OECS and Carifta Games records for her age group.

Third in the pool was Nikolas Sylvester, firstly swimming in the 50 metre Breaststroke. Sylvester pushed out an amazing personal best of 35.68 seconds, 0.7 seconds faster than his previous time and a time that would have given Nikolas a silver medal at this year’s Carifta Games and also a time that is over half a second faster than the current OECS record. The 50 metre freestyle was Nikolas’s second event and once again he delivered a great swim, finishing in 28.25 seconds, another personal best swim by over one second.

The swimmers’ coach, Kyle Dougan commented: “A superb effort was made by all three swimmers, once again proudly representing St Vincent very well at the world’s top swimming event. Their hard work in training is clearly starting to pay off and all three swimmers are on course for some great performances and results over the up and coming years”.

Later this year, the OECS swimming championships will be held in St Lucia. St Vincent will be sending a team and will be looking to bring home some gold medals. The time trials for the OECS team selection will be held September 6 to 8, 2013.