A wave of personal bests, podium finishes, and national pride swept across the pool decks this past weekend as a number of Jamaican swimmers delivered standout performances at various international competitions as they continued to assert the island’s rising presence in the global swimming arena.

At the Jesse Vassallo Invitational in Pompano Beach, Florida, Kito Campbell made a resounding statement while representing Azura Florida Aquatics. The ever-improving breaststroker, who has been trading national records with countryman Collin McKenzie, produced the third-fastest 100m breaststroke of his career, as he clocked 1:03.01 to win by over four seconds.

The University of Denver-bound swimmer was not finished there, as he also delivered a breakthrough in the 100m butterfly, lowering his personal best to 58.55s to place fourth, slicing more than a second off his previous mark of 59.65s set at the 2021 CCCAN Championships.

Also competing in Florida was former Wolmer’s standout Devaughn Robe, representing TS Aquatics, the South Florida-based club operated by Jamaican coach Andre Bailey. Robe was in fine form, as he registered personal bests in both the 200m freestyle (2:03.17) and 400m freestyle (4:35.97) to place eighth and ninth, respectively.

Robe’s top finish came in the 50m freestyle, where he placed fourth in 25.38s, while also earning respectable finishes in the 200m backstroke, where he placed fifth in 2:25.49, and seventh in the 100m butterfly. He was ninth in the 100m backstroke in 1:06.76 and 12th in the 200m individual medley in 2:27.37.

In the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Howard University-bound Nelson Denny turned heads at the National Open Long Course Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Couva.

While the spotlight was on hometown stalwarts Dylan Carter and Nikolai Blackman, Denny made his presence felt, as he posted a new 100m freestyle lifetime best of 52.85s for fifth in a world-class field. His time was under the Junior Pan Am B qualifying time of 53.22s. Blackman won the event in 49.53s after nearly hitting the World Championships A cut in the heats.

Denny also recorded his first-ever sub-57 in the 100m butterfly, touching in 56.30s during the heats, and later won the B final in 57.35s. He continued his strong form with a 1:59.27 in the 200m freestyle heats and later won the B final in 2:00.43 and added another B final victory in the 50m butterfly with a season-best 25.70s, competing in the same event won by Olympian Carter in a blazing 23.03s.

Meanwhile, Carifta champion Skyelar Richards proudly flew the black, green, and gold at the Swim Atlanta Long Course Kick-Off Meet at Georgia Tech. The rising star powered to four gold medals.

Richards won the 50m butterfly (29.10s) and 50m freestyle (27.52s), both events in which she is the reigning Carifta champion, and she later clocked a new personal best of 59.98s in the 100m freestyle to dip under the one-minute mark for the first time. Her long-term target now becomes Janelle Atkinson’s legendary age group record of 57.54s, set in 1997.

She also claimed gold in the 100m butterfly (1:09.28) and two bronze medals in the 200m freestyle (2:16.06 PB) and 200m individual medley (2:40.57). Richards finished just off the podium in the 100m backstroke, placing fourth in 1:15.49.