A TEEN world champion swimmer will lead a team of 21 athletes from Jersey at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Filip Nowacki is one of the Island’s biggest sporting stars, despite being only 18 years old.
Earlier this year, he won the British 200m breaststroke title and has already claimed world junior titles in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke.
He recently became the first British swimmer ever to swim the 100m in under one minute in all four competitive strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
Nowacki will be hoping to make history by becoming Jersey’s first Commonwealth Games medallist in more than 35 years.
Jersey has not won a medal at the Commonwealth Games since 1990, when shooter Colin Mallett won gold and also teamed up with his father, Cliff, to take bronze in the pairs event.
Nowacki is part of a nine-person swimming squad, which includes Jersey’s men’s team competing in the 4x100m medley relay for the first time.
Jersey’s athletics squad is the largest the Island has ever sent to a Commonwealth Games.
Among the athletes is sprinter Zach Saunders, who was born in Jersey and now lives in New Zealand. He will compete at his second Commonwealth Games.
Saunders joins Steve Mackay and Jamie Oldham, meaning Jersey will have three male sprinters at the Games for the first time.
There will also be two more firsts for the Island. Evan Campbell will compete in the decathlon, while Lucy Woodward will take part in the heptathlon. These events combine several different athletics challenges, including running, jumping and throwing.
In judo, Steven Rabet will become Jersey’s first representative in the sport since 1990. The young fighter qualifies to represent the Island through his Jersey-born grandparents.
Meanwhile, lawn bowler Malcolm de Sousa will compete at his fifth Commonwealth Games, having first represented Jersey in 2010.
The Commonwealth Games will take place in Glasgow in Scotland from 23 July to 2 August 2026.
