Tornadoes lead opening session at 2026 Invitational Swim Meet in Kingston

Tornado Swim Club made the early running as the 2026 Scotiabank Tornadoes Invitational Swim Meet opened at the National Aquatic Centre in Kingston on Friday, May 22, with Jamaica’s young swimmers competing across butterfly, freestyle, breaststroke and relay events.

The first session featured athletes from clubs including Tornadoes, Y Speedos, Swimmers Aquatic, Sharks, Wahoo, Vikings, Blue Marlin, Sailfish, Royals, Blue Seals and others. Competition moved through age-group races from eight-and-under up to the 15-24 mixed relay categories.

Several meet records were announced during the evening. William One of Sharks won the boys 11-12 200m butterfly in 2:33.30, beating the 2013 mark of 2:38.74. Arush Rashani of Tornadoes was credited with a new boys 13-and-over 200m butterfly record of 2:20.58, surpassing the 2023 standard of 2:23.19.

In the boys 9-10 200m freestyle, Liam Williams of Speedos set a new mark of 2:32.53, with Speedos teammates Kadel Walters and Dominic Whitlock also reported to have gone under the previous record. Olympian Sabrina Lynn, representing Tornadoes, also lowered her own girls 13-and-over 50m breaststroke meet record to 32.22 seconds.

Other winners highlighted in the session included Gabrielle Robinson of Wahoo in a girls eight-and-under 100m freestyle heat, Adriel Manbalan of Wahoo in another heat, Zachary Cameron of Tornadoes, Zion Brooks of Speedos and Eugene Kim of Sharks in boys eight-and-under freestyle races, and Michaela Wilkinson of Wahoo and McKenzie Chambers of Speedos in girls 9-10 200m freestyle heats.

The relay programme closed the night, with Tornadoes taking strong results in the mixed medley events, including the 11-12 400m medley relay and the 15-24 mixed 400m medley relay. After the opening session, Tornado Swim Club led the team standings with 376 points, ahead of Y Speedos on 251 and Swimmers Aquatic on 118.