In fact, last night was an incredible night all round, as records weren’t just smashed, but obliterated. Ian Black added two more golds to his medal tally, in the 50m breast-stroke, and in the 400m IM, shaving more than two seconds off the current Games record.
The Island squad has already marked its territory at this event, but some unbelievable performances last night from Guernsey, the Isle of Man and the Faroe Islands suggest that medals certainly aren’t just Jersey’s for the taking.
JJ Gallichan certainly felt the full impact of a strengthened field in his 200m freestyle final – despite swimming an Island and Island Games record-breaking time of 1.52.11, he could only just make fourth place, as the Faroe Islands Pal Joensen destroyed the standing record by five seconds.
There was medal joy for Ebony Jacklin, who swam a superb 50m butterfly final to claim her first ever Island Games medal, a gold, which she shared with the Faroes’ Shaila Millum Garoarnar after both touched down in 29.11 sec.
And sisters Katy and Emma Glendening finished within a second of each other in the 800m freestyle to take second and third places – Katy just pipping older sister Emma to the silver medal, in a time of 9.15.68 min. That event was, again, won by a Faroes swimmer, who swam an incredible 8.58.61 min, eclipsing the field by 17 seconds.
Charlotte Manning managed to recoup a few places on her 200m breast-stroke seeding, moving from a predicted fifth place to a silver-medal winning second, in 2.39.72 min, and Monday’s 400 IM gold medal-winner Katy Speller took gold in the 200m IM, with Rebecca Le Maistre fourth.
There was some disappointment for medal hope Kerrie Smith, who had been touted as a gold or silver prospect with her 100m backstroke submitted time of 1.06.50 min, but her actual 1.07.45 was only enough to take fourth spot.
Still, she got another chance to get onto the podium with the ladies’ 4 x 50m medley relay – possibly the most exciting race of the night, as Jersey beat rivals Guernsey to silver, but were overtaken for the gold by, yet again, the Faroes. Joining her on the podium were Iona Richardson, Charlotte Manning and Ebony Jacklin.
The Faroes didn’t feature in the men’s 4 x 50m relay, but it was Guernsey who took the upper hand in this one, finishing two seconds in front to win gold, while Jersey’s Ian Black, JJ Gallichan, Tom Gallichan and Antoin Le Fè7vre had to settle for another silver.
Coach Nathan Jégou, again, was exceptionally proud of his squad, and blown away by the standard on show.
He said: ‘It’s unbelievable –- the big teams are breaking some of the oldest Island Games records, and we smashed two of our own. It’s been another really good day. Although we did miss a couple we thought we might get, we’ve seen some excellent performances, especially from Ebony Jacklin, who got a gold for her first Island Games medal. Ian Black is continuing to do well, and Katy and Emma Glendening also swam a great 800m. Katy put all her energy into that.’
