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Higgs, Carey make semifinals in swimming; athletics gets underway today
Sheldon LongleySend an emailAugust 2, 2022 252 4 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
It was a busy holiday weekend for The Bahamas as the 22nd Commonwealth Games got underway in Birmingham, England.
A number of Bahamian athletes were in action, particularly in aquatics. A total of eight swimmers from The Bahamas competed over the weekend, and there were three semifinal appearances.
Leading the way for Bahamians at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre in Londonderry, Smethwick, England, was Lilly Higgs who qualified for the semifinals in two of her events.
In the Women’s 50 meters (m) Breast on Friday, Higgs was fifth in her heat and qualified for the semis with the 16th fastest time, swimming 33.18 seconds. She came back in the semis and finished 15th overall in 33.10 seconds. Rhanishka Gibbs had the 17th fastest time out of the heats, just missing qualifying for the semis. She was sixth in the heat and 17th overall in 33.28 seconds.
Higgs came back on Monday and qualified for the semifinals of the Women’s 100m Breast. She had the 16th fastest time in the heats, finishing fifth in heat number three, in 1:12.67. Higgs came back in the semis and was 16th overall in 1:12.97. Gibbs also swam in the Women’s 100m Breast and was eighth in her heat and 23rd overall in 1:18.44.
The only other Bahamian semifinalist over the weekend was Davante Carey in the Men’s 50m Back. Carey qualified for the semifinals of that event, finishing with the 16th fastest time in the heats. He was sixth in heat number four in a new national record time of 25.86 seconds. Carey came back in the semifinals and finished 16th overall in 25.98 seconds, which was also under his former national record time of 26.10 seconds. Lamar Taylor also competed in the Men’s 50m Back. He won his heat but finished 20th overall in 26.12 seconds.
Those two swimmers were back in the pool in the Men’s 100m Back. Carey was seventh in his heat and 19th overall in 57.27 seconds and Taylor was eighth in his heat and 21st overall in 57.51 seconds.
Carey competed in the Men’s 100m Fly on Monday. He was third in his heat and 25th overall in 56.58 seconds.
Taylor was in action in the Men’s 50m Fly and the Men’s 100m Free over the weekend.
In the Men’s 50m Fly, he won his heat and 18th overall in 24.21 seconds. In the Men’s 100m Free, he was third in his heat and finished 23rd overall in 51.10 seconds.
There were three other Bahamians in action in aquatics on Friday.
Luke-Kennedy Thompson finished third in his heat and was 19th overall in the Men’s 400m Free in 4:04.90. His younger sister Zaylie-Elizabeth
Thompson was seventh in her heat of the
Women’s 200m Free and 21st overall in 2:11.34. In the Women’s 100m Fly on Friday, Katelyn Cabral was fourth in her heat and 28th overall in 1:06.86.
On Saturday, Luke-Kennedy Thompson was back in action competing in the Men’s 200m Free. He was second in his heat and 26th overall in 1:55.44. Also on Saturday, Gibbs was second in her heat of the Women’s 50m Free and 22nd overall in 26.85 seconds. In that same event, Cabral was eighth in her heat and finished 46th overall in 28.15 seconds. Finally on Saturday, Izaak Bastian got his first taste of action, finishing seventh in his heat and 23rd overall in the Men’s 100m Breast, touching the wall in 1:04.07.
Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson and Cabral were back in action on Sunday.
Thompson finished seventh in her heat and was 13th overall in the
Women’s 200m Breast in 2:51.09. Cabral finished fourth in her heat and was 34th overall in the Women’s 50m Fly in 29.56 seconds.
On Monday, Cabral competed in the heats of the Women’s 200m Back. She was sixth in her heat and 12th overall in 2:33.19. In the Men’s 50m Breast, Bastian was fifth in his heat and 20th overall 28.74 seconds. Luke-Kennedy Thompson competed in that same event. He won his heat and was 24th overall in 29.30 seconds.
In the Women’s 100m Free on Monday, Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson was fourth in her heat and 34th overall in 1:00.60. Gibbs competed in that same event and was sixth in her heat and 43rd overall in 1:01.74.
The Bahamas was also in action in one of the relays over the weekend. In the Mixed 4x100m Free Relay, the team of Taylor,
Carey,
Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson and Lilly Higgs, in that order, finished third in their heat and ninth overall in 3:47.16, just missing out on the final.
Also over the weekend, in the Men’s Individual (Sprint Distance) Final, in the triathlon competition, at Sutton Park in Birmingham, England, Armando Moss was 38th overall in 1:07:26. In the 750m swim, he was timed in 11:10, he finished 20-kilometer bike ride in 32:34, and he ran the five-kilometer running course in 21:43. He finished about 17 minutes behind the winner, Alex Yee of England.
On Saturday, the boxing competition got underway for The Bahamas.
Carl Hield lost his opening match to Abdul-Afeez Osoba of Nigeria. Competing in the Men’s Light Middleweight category (67-71 kilograms), Hield suffered a knockout just 2:52 into the opening round in the Round of 32 in the Light
Middleweight category.
On Sunday, the other Bahamian boxer, Rashield Williams, was in action in the Round of 16 in the Men’s Light Welterweight category (60-63.5 kilograms). He took on Jonas Junias Jonas of Namibia and lost, 5-0, on points as all five judges scored the bout in Jonas’ favor.
Both of the matches took place at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre) Hall in Birmingham.
Swimming wraps up for Team Bahamas today and athletics gets underway at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. Also, the judo competition will get underway for Team Bahamas.
The Bahamas has a 28-member team at the games. Over 5,000 athletes are competing in 280 events in 20 sporting disciplines at the games. The closing ceremony is set for August 8 at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.