Guyanese CARIFTA gold medallist Jessica Stephenson competed at Florida’s Fort Lauderdale International Invitational swim meet last weekend, and managed to secure a silver and a gold medal in two of her three breaststroke events.
Jessica Stephenson
The 16-year-old Junior Sportswoman-of-the-Year runner-up won the 100m breaststroke on the night of June 25 after placing second in the 200m earlier that day, according to her mother Davina Stephenson. Davina reported that her daughter was among more than 1,056 swimmers at the meet last weekend. She was also expected to compete in the 50m breaststroke on the night of June 26.
In the 200m breaststroke, where Jessica placed second, the event included 46 swimmers in her age group, according to the information provided by her mother. In the 100m, Jessica proved to be the best of the 55 girls in the 15-16 age category.
Although Jessica lived most of her life in Guyana, she now resides in Trinidad and Tobago and trains with one of the twin islands’ best coaches, Franz Huggins. Huggins, a former national swim coach, has been coaching for more than three years at the Marlins Swim Club.
Jessica, who has credited Joanne Lowe as her first coach, made her first foray out in the Essequibo River when she was just a few months old. She has vowed to continue representing Guyana and is one of Guyana’s hopefuls for the London Olympic Games next year.
Earlier this year, before she won all three of her breaststroke events at CARIFTA, Jessica was awarded an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship to train and prepare for the Olympic Games. Jessica, and other Olympic hopefuls, such as track star Aliann Pompey, are currently receiving a grant to allow them to compete at international competitions and engage in other forms of preparation that they feel may be necessary to tune up for next year’s Olympics.
Later this year, Stephenson will again have an opportunity to get some international exposure at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man, September 7 to 13. Jessica has also been hoping to compete at the FINA World Championships which will take place next month (July 16 to 31) in Shanghai, China.
