Young swimming prodigy Sapphire Parks has turned in another dominant performance at the 39th edition of the CARIFTA Aquatics Championships, held at Martinique’s Pierre Samot Community Aquatic Centre in Le Lamentin, adding three more podium finishes to her tally on Sunday, April 5. The St Joseph’s Convent student-athlete, competing in the 11–12 girls’ division, now holds a total of six medals through two days of competition, three of which are gold medals.
Parks delivered an impressive schedule on the second Sunday of the tournament, qualifying for four event finals on the day. She claimed the top spot on the podium in the 400m individual medley, clocking a finishing time of 5:34.39 to secure her third gold of the competition. She went on to add two silver medals to her haul: one in the 50m butterfly with a time of 30.49 seconds, and a second in the 100m backstroke after touching the wall in 1:11.97. Her only non-podium finish of the day came in the 200m freestyle final, where she missed out on a bronze medal by just a fraction of a second to land in fourth place.
Parks’ standout performance leads a strong showing from the 12-member Saint Lucia delegation at the regional aquatics meet. Four other Saint Lucian swimmers advanced to event finals on Sunday night. Tyler Dantes, who already claimed the 11–12 boys’ 50m backstroke title earlier in the championships, placed fifth in the 100m backstroke and seventh in the 50m butterfly. In the older 15–17 boys’ division, Antoine Destang — who already holds a silver medal from the 100m butterfly — earned a fifth-place finish in the 100m backstroke and sixth place in the 50m butterfly.
After two full days of competition across all age divisions, Saint Lucia’s national team currently sits in 11th place in the overall team rankings, with several more days of racing still remaining on the championships schedule.