(Story by: Cayman Islands Aquatic Sports Association)
As the single biggest meet in the UK for England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland- the GB Aquatics British Summer Champs is the finale of the UK long course season. This is the test of a full season of long course training that pushes junior swimmers to the limits. Only the top 28 swimmers in each age group and event, of the Home Nations (67 million people), who are British or are in full-time education in the UK are eligible to qualify for this proving ground of future international swimmers.
A narrow qualifying window of March through May 2024 made it even harder to be selected for this event. Caymanian swimmer Sierrah Broadbelt qualified in all of her main events: 50, 100, and 200 metre butterfly.
Tuesday, 23rd July, produced Sierrah’s first medal in the 200m Butterfly with a bronze, dropping over 3 seconds from her lifetime best to set a new senior National Record for the Cayman Islands of 2:16.79, and earning her the title of the fastest female CARIFTA region swimmer of all time in this event, the 200m Butterfly (Long Course).
Wednesday resulted in a qualifying swim in the 50-metre Butterfly, placing her 7th seed for the final. Ultimately, she was out-touched and narrowly missed a podium position by hundredths of a second. She finished 5th overall with a lifetime best time of 28.39 seconds.
Friday 26th July proved to be the icing on the cake of results-producing season with a Silver medal in the 100m Butterfly at 1:02.11, proving to be her fastest-ranked event of the season by clocking up 712 World Aquatics points.
