Over six days of competition at the 2023 Island Games, held 8-14 July in Guernsey, Cayman’s athletes claimed 18 medals across swimming, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, tennis and athletics.
At the conclusion of the Games, those results placed the Cayman Islands 11th out of 24 countries in the final medal table.
Cayman’s total medal count was less than at the Games in Gibraltar four years ago – squash, in which Cayman had won six gold medals, and gymnastics were not on the schedule of sports this year, while Cayman took a smaller team to Guernsey for athletics than that which won 11 medals in 2019. However, Cayman Islands Olympic Committee’s Chef de Mission, Janet Sairsingh, said she was pleased to see the growth and development of national sports to be competitive on this level.
“Seeing improvement in all the sports is what it’s all about,” Sairsingh said, describing the Island Games as an important stepping stone for many sports looking to grow and assess their progress against international competition at a multi-sport event. “While some sports didn’t make it to the medal rounds, they all did well in the respective components of their sports.”
Sairsingh said that she was pleased to see a resurgence of energy among various sports on island, with these results coming as a sign that local sport is “doing something right”.
“Young athletes are coming through in all sports,” Sairsingh added. “They’re the ones that will be flying the flag in the next couple of years.”
Swimmers show up big with medals, records and personal bests
The swim team brought home 14 of Cayman’s medals from these Games, with the following 11 medals in individual events:
| Swimmer | Medal(s) |
| Kyra Rabess | 3x Gold (400m freestyle**, 800m freestyle**, 1500m freestyle*) |
| Will Sellars | 1x Gold (200m backstroke)
3x Bronze (1,500m freestyle, 400m individual medley, 100m backstroke) |
| Alison Jackson | 1x Gold (50m freestyle)
1x Silver (100m freestyle 1x Bronze (200m freestyle) |
| Jake Bailey | 1x Bronze (100m butterfly) |
Individual medals won by Cayman swimmers at 2023 Island Games. * = Cayman Islands national record; ** = Island Games record.
In addition to those individual accomplishments, there were two silver medals for Veronika Fankina, Sarah Jackson, Alison Jackson and Rabess in the women’s 4x50m and 4x100m freestyle relays, as well as a bronze for Alison Jackson, Rabess, Bailey and Thomas Ferguson in the final race of the meet, the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay.
Those 14 medals are five more than Cayman’s swimming contingent achieved at the previous edition of the Games, with Sairsingh stating that the group did “tremendously well”.
Both basketball teams reach podium
After a years-long absence, Cayman women’s basketball was back on the Island Games podium. Led by head coach Wendy Manzanares and assistant coach Cory McGee, the women’s team couldn’t quite manage to oust defending champions Menorca in the gold-medal match but came away with a silver medal to improve on a fifth-place finish at the 2019 Island Games.
Sairsingh commended the team’s “fighting spirit, bounce and togetherness on the court”, adding that, compared to previous years, this was a relatively young squad that will “only get better”.
In the men’s basketball tournament, an opening match loss in the group stage denied Cayman a place in the gold-medal match and a shot at a third straight Island Games title. Not to be deterred by that disappointment, however, the team rallied to win each of their remaining three group games before earning the bronze medal with a 74-43 victory over the Isle of Wight in the third-place decider.
Bronze medals for Graham and tennis duo
Cayman’s remaining two medals in Guernsey were earned in the women’s long jump and the mixed doubles in tennis.
Ashantae Graham leapt 5.36m in her long jump final to grab third place and her first medal on this stage. Graham is next set to compete alongside seven other Caymanian track-and-field athletes at the 2023 NACAC U23 and U18 Championships, scheduled for 21-23 July in Costa Rica.
Meanwhile on the tennis courts, Ricardo Solon and Abigail Anderson capped off an impressive return to the international scene for Cayman tennis with a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event. The duo was beaten in their semi-final match by the eventual mixed doubles champion team from the Isle of Man, but still managed to secure hardware to add to Cayman’s tally.
Results recaps from Island Games days 1-6
Follow the links below to check out detailed results recaps from each day of the Games:
Days 1 and 2: Click here.
Day 3: Click here.
Day 4: Click here.
Day 6: Click here.
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