Trinidad and Tobago's rising swimming stars, Aaron Siewlal and Ethan McMillan-Cole, are poised to make waves at the 2025 Carifta Aquatics Championship, which splashes off at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Couva, from April 19-22.
Both swimmers get their 2025 campaigns under way on day one of the regional competition, as they begin qualification across all distances (50m, 100m, 200m) of the 13-14 boys breaststroke event.
As part of a 36-member national squad, both athletes aim to capitalise on home advantage and challenge the Caribbean’s elite youth swimmers.
Siewlal, who won the 13-14 boys 200m breaststroke title at last year’s Carifta in Bahamas, believes his training regime over the past two months places him in strong contention for a repeat performance.
Siewlal, of Target Aquatics, swam to several medals for TT at the past two editions of the Games, and is intent on extending his win-streak in the 200m.
“I’ve made that my target, to medal 200m gold again, to keep the streak going as I’m at the top of the age group now,” he said, after completing a morning training session at the venue on April 14.
On his preparations ahead of the three-day meet, Siewlal said he’s been working on his technique and tactics for the past two months. His coach is Paul Newallo.
“Training got painful but it’s nice, my body and strokes started to feel smoother, more powerful and I feel more strength in my body. Since last week, I started feeling even better, because we’re on taper now. My stroke rate has improved.”
Siewlal likes to be as mentally prepared as much as he is physically ahead of races, so when he gets behind the blocks, he’s fully prepared.
“I visualise my race from at home. Preparing mentally is a big thing for me. I need to sit down and close my eyes and think about the race. Once I do that, I swim the race in my head so I know what I have to do in the pool; I just have to perform.”
“My diet is on point. I’m not eating any junk food or drinking soda. But ensuring a great warm-up to get my heart rate up before I swim, when I get behind the blocks, I’m ready.”
Similarly, McMillan-Cole, of Flying Fish, will contest all the 13-14 boys breaststroke events and some relays. He splashed to triple-gold in the Carifta 11-12 boys 50m, 100m and 200m events last year, and vies for top honours in the same races of the 13-14 division this year.
[caption id="attachment_1150047" align="alignnone" width="768"] TT swimmer Ethan McMillan-Cole - Jonathan Ramnanansingh[/caption]
His momentum continued at the 2024 CCCAN Championships in Mexico, where he won 100m breaststroke gold.
Currently, McMillan-Cole is using the morning session training schedule at the Aquatic Centre to get some time in the pool and sharpen his craft.
“I just need to make sure I’m putting into practice all my skills; my underwater phases, breakouts, all the stuff I’m really drilling hard in training. I need to make sure that I put that into my races and not forget about it.”
Coached by Dexter Brown, the young swimmer wants to im
