The second installment of the 2023 Amazing Concrete Tornadoes annual invitational meet, which began on on Friday at the National Aquatics Centre in Kingston, comes to an end on today (June 11).

The high-calibre meet attracted top local talents in swimming along with overseas-based swimmers and a cadre of master’s athletes – the largest contingent to date. 

The three-day meet ( June 9-11) is an official World Athletics qualifying meet and will allow athletes to secure qualifying times for several international competitions on the calendar including the July World Championships in Japan, World Junior Championships to be held in Israel in September, the Goodwill Games which will be hosted by Jamaica in August, the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad in August, the CCCAN 2023 Championships in El Salvador in August and the Pan-Am Games in October. 

Wendy Lee, head coach of the Tornadoes Swim Club says that “ we will have a full complement of swimmers from all local clubs participating and of course we look forward to welcoming our overseas swimmers and our masters for what is expected to be a highly competitive meet for top qualifying times.” 

“We are also expecting the largest complement of masters athletes competing in the meet, with more than 50 athletes now entered,” Lee highlighted. 

Just over three weeks ago, the Tornadoes staged a meet titled “The Spidey Challenge” in tribute to former team manager Michael Critchlow which saw over 500 swimmers competing in the event geared at athlete development.

This weekend’s meet will feature the strongest qualifiers in each event vying for top honours. 

“We expect a fast meet and patrons will be in for a treat as our nation’s best swimmers put on a show. The second meet will see our most competitive athletes challenge themselves against their counterparts having achieved the prescribed qualifying standard,” Lee noted. 

The club has also expressed gratitude to its first major sponsor, Amazing Concrete Limited, who will return as title sponsor for the second installment in the meet series for which it committed J$2.3 million.