This weekend marks the final opportunity for Bermuda athletes to reach qualifying standards for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, in April.

The deadline is Monday, after which the standards committee will begin the selection process before the team is confirmed in the third week of February.

Bermuda have been allotted 20 spots to fill with about 30 athletes from six sports — athletics, triathlon, swimming, squash, gymnastics and cycling — hoping to be selected.

Katura Horton-Perinchief, the chef de mission for Bermuda, is confident that the team, led by world triathlon champion Flora Duffy, will be a strong one and in contention for medals and records. She stressed that athletes will not be selected just to make up the numbers.

“The standard of competition at the Commonwealth Games gets higher and higher, which is why we at the Bermuda Olympic Association have to keep our standards high so that we’re not sending athletes who are out of their depth,” she said. “It doesn’t come down to finances, but it is an expensive, long trip and we’re not sending anybody on vacation. The people who we send, rest assured they will be incredible ambassadors for Bermuda, not just in sport but as representatives of this country.”

Horton-Perinchief visited the Games venue in October for a chef de mission’s meeting and is looking forward to good showing from Bermuda.

“We tend to say little Bermuda but we have people on this team who are multiple Olympians, a world champion, so I’m looking for some amazing performances,” she said.

“At the end of the day it is the Gold Coast of Australia and there are kangaroos, koalas and surfing, but we are there to win medals, make finals and break Bermuda records. We are sending, hopefully, the best team that we can send and we want them to do well. It’s about the athletes and the coaches meshing to give us some good performances.”

Horton-Perinchief competed as a diver in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, and the 2006 Games in Melbourne, Australia, and appreciates the high standard of competition at the Games.

“Each country was allocated a number of spots that they can fill, we have several more than 20 on the long list, and if we have all 30 of them qualify then the standards committee and executive committee of the Bermuda Olympic Association have some decisions to make,” the 2004 Olympian said. “Qualification does not mean selection. It is our intention to send qualified athletes who will do well for Bermuda, so it does not mean that we will be filling all of those spots, even.

“There is hope of having Duffy, Tyler Butterfield, Tyler Smith and Erica Hawley compete in the triathlon relay event, if all four of them qualify, There are four triathletes on the long list and the BTA is hard at work submitting all of the information to support their qualification, but each athlete has to qualify individually to get there. It will be exciting if all four of them get in.”

She added: “The standards committee has a two-week deliberation process and will go through all the information coming in from the NSGBs [national sports governing bodies] on their long list athletes. We will deliberate, pick a team and then recommend that team to the executive committee who will meet on February 22.

“Then the final team will be ratified by the general assembly in their meeting on February 22. This is not a developmental meet, a meet that we are sending people just for the opportunity to compete.

“Our junior athletes will be up against some of the best in the world. If Erica Hawley qualifies she will be lining up next to Flora Duffy who is ranked the top female on the planet. There are very stringent but very fair standards that the Bermuda Olympic Association will be upholding.”

The BNAA has a track meet scheduled for Sunday which will serve as the final chance for athletes to reach the standard. Athletes are also trying to qualify for the Carifta Games for which three Bermuda athletes, jumpers Sakari Famous and Elisha Darrell and middle-distance runner Ashley Irby, have already reached the standard.