With a new Cayman Islands national record of 17:25.66 in the women’s 1,500 metre freestyle, Kyra Rabess continues to etch her name in the storied history of Cayman swimming.
Rabess, 18, first made that record her own back in March, with her time of 17:31.98 at the Spring 2023 Speedo Sectionals in Indianapolis, shattering the previous mark (17:50.66) held by Raya Embury-Brown.
At the CAC Games in El Salvador on 25 June, Rabess – who, since September 2022 has trained with the Northern Kentucky Clippers swim team under former Stingray Swim Club head coach David Pursley – then battled through a bout of flu during the first four days of competition to lower her record and personal best once more.
“I wasn’t able to eat a lot [whilst ill], so I didn’t really feel my best,” Rabess said. “But with that, I think I still performed pretty well, considering what happened.”
Pursley, who left the island last summer to take up his new position in the US, was proud of the performance and resilience on display by the swimmer he has coached for the past nine years.
“That’s a testament to the kind of person she is,” Pursley said. “She’s going to keep fighting; she doesn’t give up.”
A year of change paid off
Lacking training partners and certainty around the future coaching personnel at Stingray Swim Club as she strove to land a spot on a college swim team, Rabess chose to follow Pursley when he relocated to the Kentucky-based Clippers last summer. Despite the initial challenge of leaving behind her family, friends and life in Cayman, the young swimmer has no doubt she made the right choice.
“It definitely was a little bit of a shock at first,” Rabess said of her move to the US last year. “It was nice to have the familiarity with coach David being there but, ultimately, going up there was the best decision I could have made.”
In addition to her recent record-setting performances, Rabess secured a place in the incoming freshman class of swimmers at the University of Northern Colorado, where she will join fellow Caymanians Sarah and Alison Jackson in the NCAA Division I this fall.
Able to complete her final year of school at nearby St. Henry District High School in Kentucky while staying with Pursley’s aunt and cousin, Rabess found greater competition in training and racing for her events in the US than on island.
According to Pursley, the opportunity to train in a 50m pool every day this summer also helped Rabess to put together some of the most consistent training he has seen from her.
Both Pursley and Cayman Islands Aquatic Sports Association technical director, Jacky Pellerin, said that the change of environment and higher level of challenge was vital to Rabess’s continued development.
“It’s still difficult to have a full, focused programme here on island,” Pellerin added. “That will be much easier when we get our aquatic centre because we will have the space, the people, the time, everything.”
Having returned to Cayman to train following the conclusion of her events at the CAC Games, Rabess next competes at the 2023 Island Games in Guernsey where she will contest the 1,500m, 400m and 800m freestyle events on 11, 12 and 13 July, respectively.
Unlike the long-course (50m) pool format of the CAC Games, the Island Games takes place in a short-course (25m) pool – familiar territory for Rabess, who was born and raised in Cayman, training and racing at the Lions Aquatics Centre.
Rabess already owns the short-course national records in the 400m and 800m freestyle events, with the 1,500m standard (Harper Barrowman’s 17:23.34) likely within striking distance. While she says she doesn’t know quite what to expect from her upcoming performances, she is looking forward to racing alongside some of the nation’s more experienced swimmers, including both Jackson sisters, once again.
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