Izaak Bastian won the country's sixth medal at the 6th Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) last night, and his second, touching the wall in a personal best time in third place in the boys 100 meters (m) breast.
One night after touching the wall in second place in the boys 50m breast at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Swim Complex, Bastian came back in the longer race and won bronze. He finished in 1:03.71.
Michael Houlie, of South Africa, won the gold medal in 1:01.86, and Zongxian Khoo, of Singapore, captured the silver in 1:03.41. Bastian barely held off Heath Macleod, of Australia, who was fourth in 1:03.81.
"It feels really good," said Bastian. "I just went as fast as I could and came away with something. That's a good feeling. I turned and I felt the others were still with me so I just picked it up. I just put it all on the line, especially the last 25. Coming back home, I felt really good so I just went for it. I wish I had gone out a lil faster. That's the only thing I wish I would have done differently. I'm doing the best that I could to represent my country, and to come away with two medals at one of the highest levels for junior athletes is a good feeling."
That last half of the race was something special for Bastian. He touched the wall at the 50m mark in last place, but passed five swimmers coming home to win the bronze medal for The Bahamas. It was the fourth bronze and sixth medal in total for The Bahamas at these Commonwealth Youth Games.
The Bahamas placed two athletes in the final of the girls version of the race and just missed coming away with another medal.
Swimming in her third final of the youth games, and coming off a silver medal performance in the 50m breast, Abaconian Lilly Higgs powered her way to a fourth place finish in the girls 100m breast last night.
Higgs swam a new Bahamian national record of 1:11.40 to finish fourth. It was a personal best time for her by more than half of a second.
"It's always hard to come fourth because you are so close to getting a medal, but it was a good race for me so I'm really proud about it," said Higgs. "Taking a look at my splits, I wish I took it out a lil faster, and I might have been able to do a bit better. Other than that, I think it was a well executed race for me and I'm pretty happy about it."
Hanim Abrahams won the gold medal in 1:10.14, Ciara Smith, of New Zealand, was second in 1:10.72, and Christie Chue, of Singapore, just out-touched Higgs for the bronze medal, finishing in 1:11.07. The other Bahamian in the race, Victoria Russell, was eighth in 1:14.82.
"I was a nit nervous because originally I was seeded ninth, but I just said to myself that I have nothing to lose," said Russell. "I went out there and did as best as I could. It was a good feeling just to make the final. I could see myself progressing, and that's a good feeling. I'm just going to continue working hard to get to big meets like this and try to represent my country well."
The other Bahamian in the boys 100m breast, William Russell, swam 1:07.38 in his morning heat and finished 14th overall.
In the girls 400m free, Zoe McCarroll was 12th overall in 4:51.12, and Brianna Nesbitt finished 13th overall in 4:54.51.
In the boys 400m free, Alec sands finished 16th overall in 4:13.98, and Joshua Roberts was 19th overall in 4:31.72.
In the girls 100m fly, Jolise Newbold finished 19th overall in 1:10.68.
In the boys 100m fly, Ian Pinder was tied for 14th overall in 58.59 seconds, and Miller Albury was 18th overall in 58.95 seconds.
In the girls 200m back, Virginia Stamp finished 13th overall in 2:33.04, and Celia Campbell was 14th overall in 2:39.96. In the boys version of that race, Peter Morley was 10th overall in 2:10.27, and Miller Albury finished 14th overall in 2:20.59.
Finally for The Bahamas in swimming on Friday night, the mixed 4x100m free relay team of Miller Albury, Izaak Bastian, Lilly Higgs and Victoria Russell, finished 10th in 3:50.33. Singapore won the gold medal in 3:36.01, England finished second in 3:36.17, and Scotland won the bronze medal in 3:37.05.
The CYG Bahamas 2017 continues today and runs through the weekend. Over 1,000 athletes from 64 countries are competing in the CYG Bahamas 2017.

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