President of The Bahamas Swimming Algernon Cargill said the 17 medals won at the recently concluded UANA Cup in Lima, Peru, suggests they are on track to win a fourth consecutive title at the Carifta Swimming Championships in Barbados later this year.

The Bahamas has won five of the last six titles at Carifta. Guadeloupe won the title in 2016 that temporarily interrupted the Bahamas’ impressive winning streak.

In Peru, the three-time defending Carifta champions won seven gold, four silver and six bronze medals to finish fourth on the medal table behind traditional powerhouses Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

“We are very excited about our team’s performance at UANA. We went there with a very small team but a focussed team with athletes who had qualified with our rigid qualifying criteria for UANA,” Cargill told Sportsmax.TV.

“The Bahamas came back with two high-point winners (Nigel Forbes and Lamar Taylor), which replicates the performances at Carifta, so we are excited that the team is on track to once again win Carifta because the same athletes that went to the UANA Cup and did so well will be representing the Bahamas in Barbados later on.”

The impressive Forbes won five of those gold medals following victories in the 13-14 Boys 200m Individual Medley in a meet record 2:13.78, the 50m butterfly in a meet record 25.94, the 100m breaststroke in 1:06.96, and the 100m butterfly in 57.28.

He was also a member of the Bahamas 4x50m mixed freestyle relay team that won gold in 1:45.57.

Forbes also won a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke in 30.91 and a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle in 24.79s.

Marvin Johnson won a gold medal in the 50m freestyle in 24.74 and a silver medal in the 100m freestyle in 54.36. He was also a member of the gold medal-winning 4x50m freestyle relay team that included Forbes, Keianna Moss and Devin Cuffy-Bethel.

Johnson won 10 medals at the 2019 Carifta Swimming Championships.

Lamar Taylor added to the medal count with his gold medal in the 50m butterfly in a meet record 23.45, and a silver medal in the 50m backstroke in 26.66.

According to Cargill, the performances are also a representation of the true depth of the Bahamas swimming programme at the age-group level.

“We already have the ability to name a team with only Carifta qualifiers because 35 of our athletes have already qualified using our criteria for Carifta,” he said.