Brad Hamilton

Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter

The 2007 edition of the CARIFTA Swimming Championships, being held here in Jamaica, is set to splash up at the National Stadium later today.

The 9:00 a.m. start will be followed by four days of activity in the pool, with defending champions the French Antilles trying to hold off Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas.

Jamaica finished second on the medal tables last time out and are hoping for a strong performance but will be hard pressed to repeat with the absence of Alia Atkinson.

Last time out, Atkinson dominated the proceedings in Curaao, bagging nine gold medals, two silver and a bronze to aid her team's charge towards 53 medals.

Twenty-four of the 53 were gold, which counts towards how dominant and ultimately important Atkinson's performance was to the team.

Fortunately for Jamaica, they still have the services of Brad Hamilton.

Hamilton, however, will be hard pressed to fill the gap left by Atkinson, as he will be challenged in every department by Aruba's Mickey van der Vaart, The Bahamas' Vereance Burrows and the Netherlands Antilles' Rodion Davelaar.

The challenges will be compounded by the fact that Hamilton will be swimming in all of 11 events, which will of course impact on his performance in the individual ones.

While this may be true in the 15-17 category, national technical director Jackie Walter still thinks her team can put on the same kind of performance they did in Curaao last year.

"I do (repeat performance) because I have other swimmers who will step up. Kendese Nangle has expanded her range, she was initially a backstroke swimmer but she has added the breast and backstrokes to that. There is also Natasha Moodie, who is fresh from the World Championships. She is basically a freestyler but we expect her to be in the medals," said Walter.

There will also be some interesting clashes. One of those contests will be the one between Bahamian Alicia Lightbourne and St. Lucian Danielle Beaubrun as they go head-to-head in the 15-17 age group.

In the meantime, Jamaica's water polo teams have made their way to Curaao for their Carifta experience, where they will attempt to defend last year's gold medal performances.