Proud Team Jamaica flagbearer and 100m butterfly swimmer, Josh Kirlew is aiming to inspire a new generation of Jamaican swimmers.

Born to a Jamaican mother in England, Josh started swimming at four-years-old and has been competing in the sport ever since. His role model growing up was Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time.

Earlier in February, he represented Jamaica at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Qatar. He gained a personal best of 54.24s in the men’s 100m butterfly event at the Setti Colli championships on June 21.

Kirlew is an alumnus of the Enfield Grammar School and he’s now reading for his Bachelor of Laws degree at Westminster University.

Currently a part of the Enfield swim squad headed by coach Gerard Gillespie, Josh started taking the sport more seriously after first representing Jamaica at the World Championships.

Kirlew and his counterpart Sabrina Lyn are competing under universality, which means they will be up against swimmers who have qualifying times or Olympic consideration times.

Universality means that a national Olympic committee with no male or female qualified athlete or relay team will be allowed to enter their highest-ranked swimmers from their country and allow them to compete.

Hilary Brown Nixon, vice president for the Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ), says “We expect them to do well, we expect personal bests but it’s certainly not the same as these swimming powerhouses. We’re not there yet, it’s going to take some time to get there but we have a plan in place where we can hopefully bring our swimmers from the age-group swimming level to having more Olympic qualifiers in the future,”.

The 24-year-old is currently ranked first at his swim club, and second in Jamaica with scores of 673.05 and 690.60 respectively.

With a promising swim career ahead of him Josh hopes to make Jamaica known outside of track and field. mentioning the untapped potential in the Caribbean for future swimmers, he hopes to carry the torch and continue the legacy of five-time Olympian Alia Atkinson.

“I do have a bit of responsibility on my shoulders. I have to pick up where Miss Atkinson left off, carrying the torch and lighting the way,” the 24-year-old said when speaking to Jamaica Gleaner.