This year’s Validus Bermuda National Swimming Championships hold significant importance. The event has been sanctioned by FINA as a Qualifier for the 2016 RIO Olympic Games. Bermuda’s overseas Elite athletes are returning home to participate in the Championships and will be looking to reach qualification in front of the home crowd.
Lisa Blackburn will be returning from her home base in Florida training with the South Florida aquatic club team. She will be accompanied by 4 of her teammates including Claire Donahue who is an Olympic Gold Medalist for team USA. Blackburn will be looking to lower her times in the Breaststroke events in hopes of reaching the Olympic B selection.
Rebecca Heyliger has returned from Southern California where she trains with the Trojan Swim Club. All of her training and preparation has been focused on the 50 Freestyle and she has to drop 4 tenths to reach the Olympic B standard.
Julian Fletcher has also returned from Southern California where he trains with the Trojan Swim Club. He will be accompanied by 2 teammates that will be looking to represent Syria and Venezuela in Rio. Fletcher has been focused on the 100 and 200 Breaststrokes where he has recently set National Records and will be looking for even lower times so he can reach the Olympic B standard.
Roy-Allan Burch just completed the Arena Pro series in Charlotte where he swam his best time since his horrific double patella tendon rupture last year. He is very close to the Olympic B cut and will be looking for the extra boost from the home crowd.
National Coach Ben Smith said, “We are also excited to have team Canada bring their youth Development squad to train at the National Sports Center and compete in our Championships. They have brought 12 very strong young athletes that will challenge all of our athletes and help to make the completion fierce.”
“We will also have swimmers attending from Trinidad, Panama and Guam which will make this a truly international event. In order for us to have the FINA sanction we have brought in an FINA level starter and FINA level referee The competition will take place on Thursday night and Friday night from 6-7:30 and will have heats on Saturday and Sunday morning from 8:30-10:30 and the finals will be from 4-6pm at night,” continued Smith.
Smith concluded, “This meet is also the last Qualifier for the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships which puts the added incentive for our young swimmers to perform. The swimmers have all been training hard and are at the fine tuning stage as they prepare to swim fast. We are very proud of the results of all of the swimmers so far this season but we are looking forward to another highlight this weekend. We would like to thank Validus for their continued support that has allowed us to grow this event over the years. We also would like to thank the Bermuda Tourism Authority for the help that they have given to the overseas competitors that have flown in for the event.”