Sylvester sets new OECS swim record

The 23rd OECS Swimming Championships concluded on Sunday, November 10 at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre in St Lucia. St Vincent’s 24-strong swim team delivered some record-breaking performances and brought home a tally of medals.{{more}}

St Vincent’s team captain Nikolas Sylvester led the way, swimming in a total of 11 events over the weekend’s competition. One of his best performances came when he won the boys 11-12 years old 50 metre Breaststroke in a personal best time of 33.74 seconds, setting a new OECS record. He then went on to smash a second OECS record in the 100 metre Breaststroke in a time of 1.13.44. That was 1.44 seconds faster than the previous record. In total, Nikolas proudly won two golds, six silver and three bronze medals and has secured his name the OECS record holders archive.

Shné Joachim was St Vincent’s next OECS record breaker. Shné destroyed her competition in the girls 50 meter Breaststroke when she won in a record breaking time of 35.11 seconds. Her time was over one and half seconds faster than the previous OECS record that had stood for over ten years. Battling against tough competition, Shné was able to return to St. Vincent with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Team Coach, Kyle Dougan contributed to the medal tally, claiming an individual silver and bronze medal in the Breaststroke events in the 18 years and over category. He also competed with his team members Prince Richardson, Trevin Williamson and Arthur Laborde in the senior boys Freestyle and Medley relays, bringing home two more bronze medals.

Team SVG placed a respectable fourth place overall. Coach Kyle Dougan commented “Every member of our developing team swam extremely well at this year’s OECS. We had personal best swims from every swimmer and with Shné and Nikolas breaking OECS records, we are witnessing how swimming in St Vincent is making an impact on the sport within the region”.

The next major event for Team SVG will be the CARIFTA swimming championships to be held in Aruba in April, 2014.