Tornadoes Invitational closes with records and strong youth swimming performances

The 2026 Tornadoes Invitational Swim Meet wrapped up on Sunday, May 24, with a packed final day of racing at the National Aquatic Centre, bringing together youth swimmers, masters competitors, coaches, parents and officials.

The final session opened with Tornadoes Swim Club highlighting its growth since 1989, when it began with 10 swimmers. The club presented itself as a broad aquatic programme spanning learn-to-swim, competitive swimming, open water, water polo, artistic swimming, triathlon and masters swimming.

Young swimmer Elania Grant led the opening prayer before the day’s events got under way. Senior swimmers Kyle Lawson and Tyler Robinson also addressed athletes and parents, saying swimming had taught them discipline, confidence, resilience and commitment beyond competition.

The racing programme featured multiple age groups across backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle and medley relays. Events included 11-12, 13-and-over, 9-10 and eight-and-under divisions, along with masters races for swimmers 25 and over.

Among the standout moments, Olympian Sabrina Lyn won the final heat of the girls 13-and-over 200-metre breaststroke and was announced as having lowered her own meet record, previously set in 2025 at 2:50.78. The announced new time was heard as 2:40.60 on the broadcast.

In the boys 13-and-over 50-metre freestyle, Julian Willoughby was credited with an unofficial meet record of 23.64 seconds in the 15-17 category, bettering the 24.08 mark set in 2022 by Zachary Jackson. In the girls eight-and-under 50-metre freestyle, Zori Robinson was also announced as setting an unofficial meet record of 33.87 seconds.

The meet closed with medley relay events and thanks to participants, spectators, volunteers and officials. Organisers also pointed swimmers toward upcoming local and international competitions, including meets in Panama, Colombia, California and Trinidad and Tobago.