Sanojah Gilkes

Sanojah (sunni) Gilkes took up fencing at age 14 because of her desire to participate in the sport of modern pentathlon, of which fencing is one of the five disciplines. Three years later the 17-year-old, who has been riding since four, is a good middle-distance runner and has learned swimming and shooting.

Sunni is a member of the Barbados Fencing Federation and the Miami Lakes Fencing in Miami, Florida. She was initially coached in Barbados by Kurt Straker and Corey Rogers, with support from Dr. Joy Sue, all of whom competed internationally for Barbados. Sunni is a NJCAA Cross Country athlete at the New Mexico Military Institute, and is now coached by Olympic Pentathletes and accomplished Fencers, Jan Olesinski and Nathan Scrimsher. Her Coach in Miami, Javier Andino prepares her for divisional and national competitions. 

In May 2021, Sunni competed in the Olympic Trials competition in Costa Rica in, where she finished 13th. It was the best performance by a Barbadian to date. 

Sunni is majoring in Kinesiology and with her full schedule, there is little time to relax, but she still manages to find time for Japanese Anime.