By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Aquatics Federation will host the 2023 Bahamas National Swimming Championships next weekend. The 51st edition of the swimming nationals will commence from June 15 to June 18 at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Swim Complex. The event will feature age groups of 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-17 and 18 and over. The event will serve as an early qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and the CARIFTA swimming championships in April next year.

Algernon Cargill, president of Bahamas Aquatics, talked about the level of competition to be on display next weekend.

“We are expecting some extremely high performances especially from our international swimmers coming home to try and qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games,” Cargill said.

Among the 50 international swimmers expected to return home will include Lamar Taylor, Marvin Johnson, Luke-Kennedy Thompson, Olympian Izaak Bastian, DaVante Carey, and Lilly Higgs. According to the president, swimmers will be coming from the US, Bermuda, and the Dominican Republic to compete.

Although athletes will be vying for a chance to qualify for next year’s Olympics, the swimming clubs are all looking to dethrone the defending champions, Mako Aquatics Club. The club has won the competition four consecutive times and will look to add another national swimming championship to their collection.

Despite being one win shy of having the same number of wins as the CARIFTA swimming team, Cargill believes Mako Aquatics might face some challenges from the Barracuda Swim club and Alpha Aquatics.

“The Mako Aquatics club is confident that they will defend their titles however I am expecting some stiff and exciting competition from Alpha Aquatics and the Barracudas,” he added.

In addition to the event being a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, swimmers will have the opportunity to qualify a year in advance of the CARIFTA games which are slated to be held at home next year following the fifth consecutive win this April.

Cargill expects that local and international athletes will look to qualify early on to get it out of the way and work on improving their times and standards ahead of next year’s major swimming events.

The championships will get underway at 9am for the first session and will start at 6pm for session two on day one.