All four Bahamian swimmers were in the pool as The Bahamas wrapped up competition at the World Aquatic Championships at the Marine Fukuoka Hall A in Fukuoka, Japan, on Saturday. The meet ended yesterday, but The Bahamas' participation was done by Saturday.
The quartet of Rhanishka Gibbs, Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson, DaVante Carey and Lamar Taylor swam in the 4×100 meters (m) mixed freestyle relay to end the competition for The Bahamas. They finished with a national time of 3:43.19, which was lower than their entry time of 3:47.16. They placed fifth in heat three and 27th out of 43 countries.
Taylor led the team off and powered his way to a national record in the 100m free when he swam a blistering split was 50.10 seconds on the first leg. He lowered his own record which was 50.25 seconds, done at the 2022 edition of the Bahamas Aquatics Federation's National Championships. Carey was next in the pool and he posted a split of 51.84 seconds. Gibbs swam the third leg and posted a split time of 1:02.16 and Thompson anchored The Bahamas home in a split of 59.09 seconds.
In the individual races on Saturday, Taylor missed out by one one-hundredth of a second in qualifying for the semifinals of the 50m backstroke - a race he set the national record in less than a month ago at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games. He finished 17th overall after touching the wall in 25.12 seconds. Japanese Irie Ryosuke swam 25.11 seconds for the 16th fastest and final qualifying time for the semis. The Bahamian placed sixth in heat six of that event.
Gibbs was in action in the 50m free and she finished 51st overall in a time of 26.64 seconds. There were 102 total swimmers in action in that event. Swimming out of lane four out of heat six, Gibbs placed second in that heat. She missed out on lowering her personal best of 26.29 seconds.
Bahamas Aquatics Federation President Algernon Cargill was at the meet and was impressed with the performances of the Bahamian swimmers.
"The team performed at a high standard," Cargill said. "Our athletes were excited to compete at a high standard and all performed at their best. Lamar Taylor had an exceptional performance in the 50m back and barely missed the semifinals, by one-hundredth of a second, placing 17th."
It was a busy day on Friday for The Bahamas as Gibbs, Taylor and Carey were all in action and they swam personal best times. Taylor set another national record, this time in the 50m free. He stopped the clock at 22.26 seconds to shave nine one-hundredths of a second from his previous personal best and national record time of 22.35 seconds. He finished second behind Aruba's Mikel Schreuders in heat nine and 28th overall out of 119 swimmers. Schreuders clocked 22.10 seconds.
Carey got a personal best in the 100m butterfly as he posted a time of 55.48 seconds after swimming splits of 25.52 seconds and 29.96 seconds. His previous personal best was 56.11 seconds. He finished fourth in heat three out of lane one. Overall, Carey was 52nd out of 74 swimmers.
Gibbs swam a personal best in the 50m butterfly when she posted a time of 28.43 seconds. It was her first individual race at the competition. Her time placed her 39th out of 64 swimmers overall. She was the first to touch the wall, swimming out of lane five in heat number three. Her previous personal best was 28.62 seconds.
Overall, there were five national records broken - three individual and two relays. There were seven personal bests and each of the four Bahamian swimmers set at least one personal best time.
A total of 10 world records were broken at the meet and there were 2,361 total athletes from 191 countries and also the World Aquatics Refugee Team. Cargill said it was a competitive championship and it has inspire Bahamian athletes to train harder in order to qualify for podium positions.
Thompson, Carey and Taylor will now get ready for the collegiate season with Carey competing as a graduate student at McKendree University. Thompson enters her junior year at Howard University and Taylor gets his junior season underway at Henderson State University. Gibbs is set to begin her freshman season at Texas Christian University (TCU).
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