8-year-old from Barbados wins gold in 50m backstroke at Saint Lucia invitational meet

Barbados: The eight year-old student at All Saint’s Primary School of Barbados placed third in her age group at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Center invitational in Saint Lucia during the Easter vacation. She also won a gold medal in the 50m backstroke and two bronze medals in the 50m butterfly and the 100m Individual Medley.

Before going to Saint Lucia in April, Mya competed in the BASA long course nationals in February and won a silver medal in 50m backstroke in her first year in the eight and under age group.

Last year Mya won 5 gold medals and was the ‘High Points Swimmer’ in the six and under age group at Rodney Heights Aquatic Center invitational in Saint Lucia. She also won a gold medal in the six and under age group at the local Aquatic Center Invitational and at the Pirates International meet, she was second in the 6 and under age group.

Competing for her school at the 2022 Primary school swimming championship, she placed 2nd overall in the 6 and under age group and she has shown consistent improvement since then.

Mya started a learn to swim program with ‘Aquability’ at the tender age of seven months because her parents wanted her to know how to swim. After she outgrew the pool at Aquability, she joined the Seaside Aquatics Swim Club in 2019 and quickly showed potential and interest in competitive swimming.

In her first competitive swim at the age of five, Mya came last but far from feeling discouraged, the courageous lass was fired up for the next meet a few months later and she has made progress in each race in which she has competed since then.

An academically strong student who pays careful attention to her school work, Mya represented her school at the 2023 National Primary School Athletic Championships in long jump, 4x100m relay and 150m sprint and this year, she qualified to represent them in the 150m sprint and the 4x100m relay. She also enjoys table tennis and recently started playing the sport.

The talented all rounded student is a member of the school’s choir and performed at Elliot Belgrave’s Christmas Programme with the choir.

The daughter of Merlon and Deeann Edwards, who hail from Mile & A Quarter in St. Peter, is an animal lover and she has cats, fish and a tortoise. Mya also likes building and playing with legos and doing tie dye and she is happy eating anything made from flour.