The 38th Carifta Aquatics Championships were held in Trinidad between April 19th and 22nd, 2025. These championships featured over 380 swimmers from over 25 countries in the Caribbean. The St Vincent and the Grenadines Swimming Federation (SVGSF) sent a team of 7 swimmers and two coaches.
The SVGSF is happy to announce that Vincentian swimmers continued their medal winning performances for yet another year. SVG has won medals at every Carifta Aquatics Championships since 2013. We believe that Swimming is one of the most successful sports in SVG when measured from the returns of medals won at the regional (OECS) and Caribbean levels. SVG returned with a total of six medals which is our best results at the Carifta level. Kione Deshong led the way in winning SVG’s second ever Gold medal at Carifta. His total medal haul of 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze matched the results of Alex Joachim in 2018. Kione has the most Carifta medals of any SVG swimmer up to his age.
Swimming is by nature an expensive sport and the SVG Swimming Federation extends our gratitude to our corporate and government supporters. We express appreciation to Gallaghers, BOSVG and FLOW as primary donors. We appreciate the support of the Government via the National Sports Council and the National Lotteries. The support of the SVG Olympic Committee has also been instrumental and we thank them for their support (both financial and non-financial). Without this support, the SVGSF could not achieve the levels of success that it has.
SVG returned from Carifta 2025 with 6 medals and five of our seven swimmers were able to qualify to swim in finals events which means they were in the top eight positions in the event. This is an outstanding achievement. The highlights of our swimmers performances are:
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- Kione Deshong was outstanding in competing in the Boys 11 to 12 age group and won 3 Medals which included Gold in the 100 meter Breaststroke event; Silver in the 50 meter Breaststroke event and Bronze in the 200 meter Breaststroke event. Kione also set 6 personal best times. His times in six events are in the top 2% of times in the USA.
- Caghry Williams also was outstanding in competing in the Boys age 11 to 12 group. He won 2 medals which included Silver in the 100 meter Breaststroke and Bronze in the 50 meter Breaststroke event. Caghry also set 8 personal best times and his times in 3 events are in the top 2% of times in the USA.
- Kennice Greene, our Olympian, competed in the Girls 15 to 17 age group and won a Bronze medal in the 50 meter Butterfly event. This was her second medal in her Carifta career. Kennice also broke the SVG national record in the 50 meter Backstroke event.
- Kione Deshong was outstanding in competing in the Boys 11 to 12 age group and won 3 Medals which included Gold in the 100 meter Breaststroke event; Silver in the 50 meter Breaststroke event and Bronze in the 200 meter Breaststroke event. Kione also set 6 personal best times. His times in six events are in the top 2% of times in the USA.
Our other SVG team members all performed credibly and were competitive in their events. This included:
- Tyler Robinson, swimming in the Boys 13 to 14 age group, qualified for 2 finals where he placed 4th (and narrowly missed out on a Bronze medal) and 6th. He recorded 4 personal best times.
- Belle Adams, swimming in the girls 11 to 12 age group, qualified for 2 finals where she placed 7th and 8th. She recorded 2 personal best times and 2 of her times would place her among the top 6% of USA swimmers.
- Brandon George and Matthew Ballah both competed in the extremely tough boys age 15 to 17 age group. Both swimmers were very competitive in their events.
The SVGSF are very proud of all of our athletes and we congratulate the athletes, their coaches and their parents on their results. They continue to make us proud by their results, their hard work and their dedication.
We note that Kennice Greene and Brandon George will both be starting College/University in the USA in August and we wish them continued success in both their academic and swimming futures. They have both represented SVG swimming at the OECS, Caribbean and World Championship levels and Kennice swam at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
For information on results: CARIFTA 2025 – Results SVG