Young swimmers reach finals, rewrite records at PanAms

Team Saint Lucia reached several finals and set national records at the 2026 PanAm Aquatics Swimming Championships in Ibagué, Colombia, but won no medals.

From July 8 to 12, eight athletes from the Saint Lucia Aquatics Federation competed against more than 500 swimmers from 31 countries and territories at the Hernando Arbeláez Jiménez Olympic Swimming Pools, earning top-eight finishes in both individual events and relays.​

In the girls’ 13-15 division, 13-year-old Sapphire Parks placed sixth in the 400m Individual Medley final with a time of 5:32.90 and seventh in the 100m butterfly final with a time of 1:07.21. She also reached the finals in the 100m backstroke, 200m butterfly, and 200m breaststroke.​

Pending ratification, the two-time CARIFTA Aquatics champion also broke five age group records, including the 400m IM, improving her own senior national record. Parks scored 78 points and finished seventh out of 48 girls.​

Mikaili Charlemagne competed in the women’s 19 & Over category and finished fifth in the 50m butterfly final with a time of 28.90 seconds. The Tokyo 2020 Olympian also placed sixth in the 100m butterfly and narrowly missed the finals in the 50m and 100m freestyle, finishing ninth in both.​

Fayth Jeffrey, who will turn 17 in December and is based in the USA, reached the finals in her only individual event, clocking 35.77 seconds to take eighth in the 16-18 girls 50m breaststroke. ​

Jayden Xu, who won a medal at this event last year, reached the final in the boys 16-18 50m backstroke and finished seventh with a time of 28.68 seconds. Tyler Dantes did not make any finals but set a new age group record for 13-16 boys in the 50m backstroke, finishing sixth in his heat with a time of 30.76 seconds.​

Saint Lucia’s senior mixed relay teams also advanced directly to the championship finals. The 19 & Over mixed 4×100m medley relay team of Xu, Caden Calderon, Jeffrey and Charlemagne finished fifth with a time of 4:28.24. The mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team also placed fifth.​

Mexico won the Absolute Championship points title, while Colombia led the overall medal count with 85 medals, including 31 gold. Mexico followed with 99 medals and 30 gold. Chile earned 31 medals, 18 of them gold, and Argentina collected 42 medals, including 13 gold.

​(TF)

The article Young swimmers reach finals, rewrite records at PanAms is from St. Lucia Times.