A squad of young Barbadian swimmers has wrapped up competition at the 30th edition of the Goodwill Swimming Championships hosted in Trinidad, returning home with a fourth-place overall finish and a haul of medals that team leadership says signals strong long-term growth for the country’s swimming program.
Led by team manager Stacy Blunt, the delegation collected a total of 58 medals across age-group divisions: 15 gold, 20 silver, and 23 bronze. This marked a repeat of the team’s fourth-place ranking from the 2023 championships, though the total medal count dropped slightly from 69 a year prior. Blunt emphasized that the lower total did not reflect a dip in effort or commitment from the young competitors. Every athlete brought their full effort to every race, prioritizing the team’s collective success throughout the five-day regional event, she noted.
Multiple rising athletes delivered standout performances that caught coaching staff attention. One of the most impressive showings came from 11 to 12 age-group competitor Ziya Philips, who reached the podium in all seven of her events and set new personal best times in every single race. Philips ended the championships as the second-ranked overall swimmer in her division. Other top performers included Liam Courtenay, who took third overall in the 9-10 boys’ division, Darren Anka who claimed third in the 13-14 boys’ category, and Amaya Harrison who finished second overall among 15-17 girls.
Blunt explained that the team was selected with intentional long-term development as the core goal, rather than prioritizing a high medal count at Goodwill. The annual regional championships serve as a critical scouting opportunity to identify emerging talent with the potential to qualify for and compete at the 2025 CARIFTA Games, scheduled to take place next April. With athletes ranging from the 8-and-under division all the way up to the 15-17 age group, the Goodwill delegation gave coaching staff a full view of the talent pipeline progressing through Barbados’ youth system, Blunt added.
Now that the team has returned to Barbados, swimmers will head back to their local clubs and resume their structured daily training routines, which include dedicated morning and afternoon practice sessions. The next 12 months bring a packed competition schedule to continue honing their skills and earn qualifying spots for CARIFTA: the domestic calendar includes interscholastic championships set for November, the Short Course National Championships in December, and the Long Course National Championships in February, alongside regular inter-club meets. A small selected group of top contenders will also travel to qualifying meets in Trinidad and Jamaica, which are officially recognized as CARIFTA qualifying events.
Blunt closed by extending gratitude to key stakeholders that made the Goodwill trip possible: the Barbados Aquatic Sports Association for creating development opportunities for youth swimmers, and the parents, guardians, and supporters who traveled to Trinidad to cheer on the team. Reflecting on Barbados’ swimming performance across 2024 as a whole, Blunt said the sport continues to deliver encouraging results at every level of competition. The country performed strongly at this year’s CARIFTA Games, and a number of Barbadian swimmers also earned spots to compete at both the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and the Commonwealth Games in 2024.
“Right now, the standard of competitive swimming in Barbados sits at a very high level,” Blunt said. “We have a cohort of exceptional coaches who are consistently working to prepare these young swimmers, not just for regional competitions like Goodwill and CARIFTA, but for the highest level of international competition as well. I can say without a doubt that swimming in Barbados is in very good hands.”