Skye storms to record-breaking gold as Team England lead the way at Trinbago 2023

Surprised Skye Carter shattered a 12-year Commonwealth Youth Games record as she stormed to victory in the splash and dash Women’s 50m Freestyle on the final day of the swimming competition at Trinbago 2023.

Carter shaved 0.04 seconds off the previous best of 25.19 set by Ami Matsuo at the Isle of Man Games in 2011.

She clocked 25.15 to finish 0.39 ahead of Wales’s Theodora Taylor, with Australia’s Inez Miller taking the bronze in a time of 25.59.

Basildon Phoenix’s Carter admitted she was stunned to discover she had set a new Games record and revealed the pride her family would have taken in her achievement.

She said: “I was so surprised I’m really happy to have got the Games record as I feel like my name is in history now and that’s really shocking – crazy.

“My family are going to be so proud. My mum, my sister, my brother, my dad have stood by me through my whole swimming journey – every bad swim, every good swim.

“So, this will really make them happy that it was a great swim.

“That’s my first individual gold medal internationally and I think there’s no better pace to get it than here.

“The atmosphere is so amazing. It’s a brilliant pool and I’m really grateful for the opportunity.” 

Table toppers

Carter’s gold was one of four medals won by Team England to round off a hugely successful four days at the National Aquatics Centre in Trinidad.

Team England topped the swimming medal table with a total of 23 – nine golds, 10 silver and four bronze.

The other gold medal was secured by the Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay team of Blythe Kinsman, Oscar Bilbao, Nick Finch and Carter in the final race in the pool.

They finished an impressive 4.01 seconds ahead of Scotland after clocking 3:54.02.

Team England were fourth following the opening two legs by Kinsman and Bilbao but Finch’s swim took them into first place and Carter lead them home.

In the Men’s 200m Butterfly, Rueben Rowbotham-Keating was narrowly beaten in a race for the wall and had to settle for the silver medal.

He was in front throughout the first 150m but was pegged back on the last leg by Malaysia’s Li Hen Goh, who triumphed by 0.21 seconds in a time of 2:03.63.

It was a fourth medal of the Games – and a first individual podium place – for 18-year-old Rowbotham-Keating, who clocked 2:03.84 to finish 2.44 seconds clear of South Africa’s Jarden Dylan Eaton.

In the Women’s 200m Butterfly, Ashleigh Baillie took the bronze medal for Team England in a time of 2:16.74.

Australia’s Mikayla Bird edged out her compatriot Poppy Stephen for the gold as the two dominated proceedings.

Edward Marcel Whittles came within a whisker of adding to the medal tally as he was touched out of a podium place in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley.

He was third heading into the final 50m but finished fourth in a time of 2:04.70 – only 0.28 adrift of New Zealand’s Kevin Zhang who took the bronze.

Erin Little finished sixth in the Women’s 50m Freestyle in 26.31, while Finch was seventh in the Men’s 50m Freestyle in a time of 23.54.

To view all the results from the final day of swimming action, visit the Trinbago 2023 website.