Le Couilliard’s 2.02.45 broke Simon Militis’ Island Abacus senior record in the semi-finals and although he was fractionally slower in the final, he had the satisfaction of swimming inside the Jersey Games qualifying standard on three occasions as well as picking up the youth silver medal for the British 17/18 age group.
His return to form in the 50m pool follows his excellent Island Games swims and with another six months before the Commonwealth Games he feels he can get close to the 2.00 min barrier.
AIB Tigers’ coach Paul du Feu said: ‘Simon has worked hard all winter and has prepared himself well for the championships, He is back among Britain’s best and can feel pleased with his achievements.’ Tigers’ only girl at the championships, 15-year-old Victoria Rebours, had to wait four days for her race but with a 5.15.0 for the medley, she was placed an excellent 11th in her age group and finished inside her previous personal best by a massive two seconds.
Du Feu said of her swim: ‘Victoria’s sees her finish with an individual personal best after an excellent Island Games.
She forfeited a place in the Great Britain Catholic Schools team for this level of competition and while she has won no medals, she’s shown what a tough competitor Jersey’s only female to compete at this level can be.’ Daniel Halksworth and Damien Boucheré were off the pace in their 200m medleys and seem to have found this one meet too far after a busy season.
‘Alexis Militis is still showing good form and after two semi-finals in the first half of the meet (50m butterfly and 50m freestyle), he has the 100m freestyle to look forward to.’ Le Couilliard also returns to the pool in the 100m butterfly heats today.
