In the pool last night Emma Glendening, Katie Speller, Ebony Jacklin and Iona Richardson swam to gold, and a new Island Games record, in the women’s 4x100m freestyle.
Three of the girls swam sub-60 seconds – Richardson completing the home lap in 57.49 – though they given a helping hand by the Faroe Islands, who had touched down two seconds earlier but were disqualified on the takeover.
That proved to be the only gold medal of the night for the swimmers, although there were another four silver medals for the girls – Katie Speller finished second in her 400m freestyle, in 4.23.46 min, Charlotte Manning took silver for her 1.15.04 min 100m breaststroke, Iona Richardson was second in the 50m freestyle, in 26.91 seconds, and Kerrie Smith scored a podium place with her 2.21.40 sec 200m backstroke.
Relay gold medalist Jacklin achieved another commendable result in the 50m freestyle, claiming bronze with a 27.24 sec swim, despite having spent much of the day in bed with a throat infection.
There was disappointment for the men’s 4x50m medley relay team, however, as they had their bronze medal-winning swim disqualified on the takeover.
After three days’ hard racing it looks like the competition may be taking its toll on some of the swimmers, who were visibly exhausted at times, but, incredibly, they still managed to collect another six medals.
Coach Nathan Jégou said: ‘Some of them did have a tough day, but it was good for the younger ones as they had more medal chances in those events. Kerrie Smith had a fantastic swim to pick up silver in the 200m backstroke, and Grace Le Couillard had a great swim in the 200m backstroke to finish fifth.
Competitions like this can be really tough on the swimmers, because it’s very rare that you would race four times a week. Our boys are also quite young compared to other teams like Guernsey, and there are quite a few of the girls who haven’t been to the Island Games before. But we are still competing very well, and we’re still breaking records.’
