Two of Cayman’s top swimming siblings have their sights on success in Qatar.
Lara and Geoffrey Butler are currently at university in the United Kingdom training for the upcoming school races. Their ultimate goal is to qualify for the 12th Fédération Internationale de Natation World Swimming Championships in Doha on Dec. 3-7.
Geoffrey Butler, 18, was based at Plymouth College boarding school in Devon, England, up to this summer. He says performing well at the university level will prepare him for that meet.
“It depends on my results really, from school,” Geoffrey Butler said. “Hopefully I either go to Bath or Edinburgh to uni and then train with them. Depending on how the university schedules work out, I might be at the world short course in December. If I can go, that would be a great meet.”
The Doha meet, which last took place in 2012, is slated to feature 900 swimmers from across the globe for a five-day competition in a 25-meter pool. There are a total of 46 events (34 individual and 12 relays) being featured with a total of 138 medals on offer.
Lara Butler, 19, is based at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England and said the Doha meet features her favorite form of swimming.
“My favorite is short course and in December there’s the world short course, which is in Doha again,” Lara Butler said. “Hopefully, I get to make the team for that one.”
The Butler siblings competed at the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland this month along with four other Caymanian swimmers: David Ebanks, Brett Fraser, Lauren Hew and Alex McCallum. The team was expected to produce a medal but only Fraser, 24, came close with a fifth place finish of 23.66 seconds in the 50 meter butterfly finals that was 30 milliseconds off the bronze medal-winning time.
During his heats, Geoffrey Butler was seventh in the 1500m free at 16:14.39; sixth in the 400m free at 4:06.78 and second in the 200m free at 1:57.13 (he missed out on the semis due to his time). Lara Butler was eighth in the 100m back at 1:08.37, eighth in the 200m Individual Medley at 2:27.49, seventh in the 100m fly at 1:05.69 and seventh in the 200m fly at 2:22.53. The Butler siblings said they learned a lot from their Glasgow performance.
“Definitely trying to keep my nerves, under the pressure of the big events, that would be the best thing,” Geoffrey Butler said. “I mean it was huge, a completely new experience for me and so adapting to that environment was key. Hopefully I can take that on to the future.”
“Overall I really enjoyed the Games, I thought it was fun, it was a new experience being with all of the top people in the long course,” Lara Butler said. “A lot of my friends in uni were there so it was quite nice seeing everyone. Overall, you kind of learn that you just swim your own race. We are from a small country and it’s different for us compared to everyone else.”
The other team members will also be looking to compete in upcoming meets. McCallum, 20, who attends Loughborough with Lara Butler, says his focus now is on international races next summer.
“I’m getting back into the pool, maybe looking towards Pan-Am Games next summer and Island Games so we’ll see how I do coming into next year,” McCallum said.
Ebanks, 32, is back in Essex, England, spending his days as a medical sales representative. While his prospects of representing Cayman again are unclear, he says he will cherish his Scotland experience.
“It was quite amazing really,” Ebanks said. “I’m a bit of a swim fan so to speak to all the famous swimmers around the world was pretty cool. It was a cool moment to race with those guys.”
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