The 2026 CARIFTA Aquatics Championships wrapped up its four-day run on April 7 at Martinique’s Pierre Samot Community Aquatic Centre, and the Saint Lucia national swim squad has emerged with a historic milestone to celebrate. The island nation’s swimmers secured an unprecedented total of 14 medals across individual events, marking a one-medal increase from their 2025 performance and setting a new national record for the regional competition.
Leading the charge for Saint Lucia was 11-12 age division standout Sapphire Parks, who turned in a dominant performance that cemented her status as one of the region’s most promising young swimmers. Defending her division title from the previous year, Parks expanded her personal medal haul from eight in 2025 to 10 this year, closing out the competition with an overall tally of five gold, four silver, and one bronze to earn 88 total individual points. Her standout results included a gold medal win in the 100m breaststroke, where she clocked a finishing time of 1:21.23, and a silver medal in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:38.13.
Reflecting on her performance after Monday’s preliminary and final events, Parks opened up about the mix of progress and resilience that defined her competition. “In the first three events that I did, I didn’t really hit personal bests as much as I wanted,” she explained. “But in the last event, the 200m individual medley that I’m really proud of right now, I dropped a lot of time, and that made me really happy. It made up for the rest.” On the final day of competition, Parks added a fifth-place finish in the 400m freestyle final to her overall results.
Beyond Parks’ historic individual performance, several other Saint Lucia swimmers turned in impressive results to push the team to its record medal count. Tyler Dantes claimed one gold medal for the squad, while Antoine Destang earned two silver medals, and Maya Andrew took home a bronze medal. Dantes also posted eighth place in the 11-12 boys’ 50m freestyle and sixth in the 200m backstroke, cutting an impressive 10 seconds off his previous personal best time in the process. Destang, competing in the 15-17 boys’ division, notched a fourth-place finish in the 50m freestyle and eighth in the 200m freestyle. Young swimmer Fayth Jefferey came just short of qualifying for the 100m breaststroke finals in a tightly contested preliminary round.
When the final scores were tallied, Saint Lucia secured 12th place in the overall team rankings with 156 total points, a solid finish that reflected the team’s consistent performance across four days of competition. The Bahamas claimed the overall team title with a dominant 795 total points to top the regional rankings. Comparing the 2026 result to last year’s, Saint Lucia’s 2025 medal count stood at 13 medals: four gold, four silver, and five bronze, making this year’s 14-medal haul a new benchmark for the country’s aquatics program.