TRINIDAD and Tobago (T&T) and Suriname dominated the opening day of the 18th annual Goodwill Swimming Championships which is currently being staged here at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal.
The action continues today from 12:30hrs with Guyana in the hunt for medals after not such a good first day.
Yesterday, Guyana didn’t get on the podium until the sixth event when Hannibal Gaskin finished second in the male 13 – 14 200m Freestyle behind Suriname’s Jair Vreugd who finished with a time of 2:08.50s while his fellow country mate Chefarao Wijders was third.
Guyana’s female Olympian Britany Van Lange broke the 15 – 17, 200m Freestyle with a time of 2:14.54s and finished ahead of Suriname’s Soraya Van Dijk and T&T’s Marie Marcano.
Van Lange later would achieve Guyana’s second Gold medal when she won the 15 – 17 100m Butterfly in a time of 1:11.81s. She defeated Marcano and T&T Kieranne Ramtahal into second and third, respectively. Van Lange was also the victor in the 50m Breaststroke.
The day saw Suriname and T&T storm ahead on the points standing by having numerous participants in every category from under-8 years  to 15-17 years.
In the relays which were the final events of the day T&T and Suriname continually brought down their dominance with some challenge from Barbados while Guyana’s participation in the relays were scant since could not field teams in majority of the categories.