Barbados hosted the Carifta Games (Caribbean Games) from April 16-20. Eighteen federations and 257 Caribbean swimmers were present, including the Saint-Martin delegation, which distinguished itself thanks to Joey Schvartz Arnaud, gold medalist in the 11-12 age group!
The island of Saint-Martin represented by Sacha Gibbs, Matias Piazza, Joey Schvartz Arnaud and Saphir Thomas was present for the first time at the Carifta Games, the swimmers being previously attached to the Dutch delegation of Sint Maarten and Guadeloupe.
These four swimmers all come from the Carib Swim Team structure where they were trained from an early age.
For its very first participation and with only 4 swimmers, Saint-Martin shone with its results, as the smallest nation where it finished 13th out of 18.
Joey Schvartz Arnaud stands out with a title of Caribbean Champion in the 11-12 age group thanks to his 4 gold medals (200 NL, 400 NL, 200 medley, 4 medley) and his silver medal in 400 breaststroke.
He qualified for all the finals of his races and also won the Cayman Islands special prize in honor of Landon Von Kanel, who had also won the 200m and the 400 crawl in 1996.
Thanks to his performances Joey qualifies for the next French Championships which will take place in Pau next July.
For his part, Matias Piazza completed a magnificent race in open water where he won the bronze medal in the 5 km in 1h08.37. In swimming race he finished 4th in the 200 4N and achieved several 5th and 7th places in the finals where he was qualified.
Finally, Saphir Thomas and Sacha Gibbs had to battle against older competitors this year, which did not make it easy for them. Sacha had a great competition in the very competitive 15+ category, Saphir qualified for several finals and finished 5th in the 50 backstroke despite her young age.
The team would like to thank the Collectivity of St-Martin, the prefecture of St-Martin / St Barthélemy, Super U, the lolo of Grand-Case "Au Coin des Amis" and all the people who made this great adventure possible.
The island has proven once again that despite its small size, it can produce very good athletes! _AF
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