Cayman’s athletes are bringing home six medals from the Commonwealth Youth Games, as well as celebrating setting personal bests and national records, after four days of competition in Trinidad and Tobago.
Their tally of two golds, one silver and three bronze has earned the team eighth-place overall out of 52 countries – an all-time best for Cayman.
In a jaw-dropping moment, Cayman’s long jumper Andrew Stone leaped straight into the Commonwealth history books on Tuesday, 8 Aug., after he jumped 7.70 metres to surpass the previous Commonwealth Youth Games record of 7.67 metres, set by Richard Seklorwu of Ghana in 2015.
Stone became the first Caymanian ever to win gold in athletics since the first edition of the games in 2000. Caymanian Jamal Walton came the closest to taking the top podium spot in 2015, where he ran to a silver medal in the 400m dash.
Jillian Crooks also made history in Trinidad and Tobago by winning Cayman’s first gold medal ever in swimming in the 100m freestyle, in a national record time of 55.18, which was .14 seconds faster then her time from last month’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Earlier, Crooks earned bronze medals in the 100m backstroke in 1.02.10, and the 50m backstroke in 29.51 – both national records.
James Allison set the tone for team Cayman on the first day of competition, on 6 Aug., when he blazed through his 200m freestyle final in 1.50.97 to earn silver and become Cayman’s first-ever swimmer to win a medal at the games.
Harper Barrowman capped off Cayman’s medal tally on Wednesday, 9 Aug., winning bronze in the 800m free in a time of 9:11.72 – a new personal best.
Sierrah Broadbelt also made history, setting a national record for ages 13-14 in the 50m butterfly and a senior record in 100m fly in 1:04.04 – beating Lara Butler’s previous record time of 1:04.10 set in 2016.
The rest of the 11-member team comprised three other swimmers, Teagan Nash and Connor Macdonald, who clocked personal bests, and Allysson Belfonte; sisters Anija and Briana Delapenha in beach volleyball; and Ty Goddard in track and field – all of which had personal-best performances.
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