Get ready to be blown away by the extraordinary talent of Raekwon Noel, the 17-year-old Guyanese swimmer who has taken the swimming world by storm and is undeniably Guyana’s greatest swimming sensation. Raekwon’s achievements are nothing short of incredible – with over 600 FINA points in 7 events, he holds the highest point score of any active Guyanese swimmer, regardless of gender. The FINA Point Scoring assigns point values to swimming performances, with more points for faster and fewer points for slower performances and thanks to his awe-inspiring performances, Raekwon has cemented his position as a true force to be reckoned with in the world of swimming.
He also now holds 10 National Open Long Course Records – the most records held by any single Guyanese swimmer. Raekwon is a complete swimmer, excelling in three out of the four swim strokes, namely freestyle, butterfly and backstroke and dominant over multiple distances, ranging from 50 metres to over 1500 metres. Raekwon’s national open records are: 200m Freestyle – Time: 1:58.05; 400m Freestyle – Time: 4:15.35; 1500m Freestyle – Time: 18:00.00; 100m Backstroke – Time: 1:00.51; 200m Backstroke – Time: 2:15.20; 50m Butterfly – Time: 25.95; 100m Butterfly – Time: 57.01; 200m Butterfly – Time: 2:08.58
Though the times have not yet been officially released, Noel added 800m Freestyle and 400m Individual Medley to his Guyana national records haul over the weekend at the Annual Republic Anniversary Swim Meet at the National Aquatic Centre (February 16-19, 2023). During the weekend, he broke the National Record in every single event he entered.
This skilled swimmer from Guyana has been excelling in the pool since he was 7 years old when he was first selected to represent his country at the Goodwill Games in Barbados. However, Raekwon’s development skyrocketed after rejoining the Dorado Speed Swim Club in 2018 under the coaching of Jaime Skeete. Raekwon went on to represent Guyana at the Goodwill Games for the next four years (2014-2017) and qualified for the CARIFTA Games for the first time in 2018, representing Guyana in Jamaica. In 2019, Raekwon once again qualified for the CARIFTA Games and represented Guyana in Barbados where he broke Olympian Hannibal Gaskin’s 200 butterfly record, earning his first national record. In December 2021, Raekwon made his first international appearance representing Guyana at the FINA 15th World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In 2022, he represented Guyana at the inaugural Caribbean Games in Guadeloupe, winning a bronze medal in the 100 butterfly.
Raekwon has also been a dominant force at the Guyana Teachers’ Union Annual Swimming, Cycling and Athletics Championships. Competing for North Zone, Raekwon ran away with the Champion Boy trophy in his age group in 2015/2016/2017/2018.
Raekwon moved to the US to pursue his swimming career in August 2021. His aim was to find the training environment to become the first Guyanese swimmer to qualify for the Olympics in swimming. Although Guyana is represented in swimming at the Olympics, it is through an ‘Universality’ place that is awarded to countries from which no swimmer makes the qualifying standard. Raekwon’s second goal was to secure an academic and athletic scholarship to a Division 1 University in the United States to pursue his dream careers in medicine, business and sport.
Raekwon immediately made his mark in the US. When he first arrived, he was not placed with the elite swimmers in his new club. Within six months however, Raekwon had proven himself and swiftly rose in ranking and gained respect for his continuous improvements and respectful demeanour. In the short time that Raekwon has been with the New Jersey club, he broke 3 Gator Classic meet records; 1650(mile) free; 100 (yards) back and 200 (yards) back. He was equally impressive and dominant in his new High School, breaking the following school records: 100 (yards) butterfly; 100 (yards) backstroke; 100 (yards) breast; 500 (yards) freestyle; 100 (yards) freestyle. In so doing, he earned twice in one year, the coveted award of athlete of the month. Raekwon’s achievements went beyond his club and school. He qualified for Winter Juniors Nationals, Futures Championships and was crowned Tri-County Champion and he has been featured in the influential global swim magazine SwimSwam.
Raekwon was sought after by many Division 1 elite Universities in the USA including Duke University. Apart from his swimming exploits, Raekwon maintains his grades in the 90 percentile, distinguishing himself as a true scholar-athlete. One week ago, he verbally committed to and secured a full scholarship at Indiana University to further his academic and swimming careers. Following the completion of his final year in high school, he will join the IU in 2024.
Raekwon is grateful to all those who supported him in his journey, his parents and grandparents, his relatives and friends, some kind sponsors too numerous to name and including Mr. Ramdeo Kumar, CEO of Beacon Café, who never met him, but extended his kind support on several occasions. He is grateful to his coaches locally and in New Jersey, especially Jaime Skeete, who trained him in Guyana before 2021 that resulted in his explosive development.
