AN excellent opening day of the 2025 Orkney Island Games sees Jersey land top of the medals table with three golds.
Triathlon
Tom Atkinson secured Jersey’s first gold medal of the Island Games 2025 Orkney after an excellent performance in the Men’s Triathlon.
Competing in the Men’s Individual Final, Atkinson (21) fulfilled his ambitions of securing an illusive individual medal as he led out of the water and all the way to the finish line on a warm day around Stromness Harbour.
The young Jerseyman dominated the field, finishing in 1 hour 52 minutes 47 seconds, nearly seven minutes ahead of Gotland’s Albert Askengren in second place, with Orkney’s very own Bermuda 2013 gold medallist Bobby Oag securing the bronze.
Atkinson is the first Jerseyman to win the individual Men’s Triathlon gold since Dan Halksworth went back-to-back in Jersey 2015 and Gotland 2017.
“I’m delighted with the finish,” said an excited Atkinson post-race, “I really wanted to improve on my fourth-place finish in Guernsey 2023, so to land the gold is something really special to me.”
“We had some complications at the start of the race with the music and the sound effects, we usually wait for the ready signals from the officials, so that was a bit confusing, but I think we all managed to start at the same time.”
“From coming out of the water at the front, I just had to hold on from there, I’m really pleased and proud to be representing Jersey and having won our first gold of these games.”
Atkinson’s efforts also went a long way to helping the Jersey Men retain their Team gold from two years ago, backed up fellow conpatriot’s Peter Holmes, Dale Quenault, Wayne Quenault, Dirk Swart and Mark Syvret in their own performances.
Swart and Wayne Quenault were also excellent, finishing in 8th and 9th places respectively, Swart finishing just 52 seconds ahead of his teammate.
Syvret was just outside the top 10, finishing 11th, with Dale Quenault and Peter Holmes finishing in 15th and 16th places respectively.
The Team standings were decided by the top three fastest individual times combined. Jersey therefore finished with a combined time of 6:12:48 from Atkinson, Swart and Wayne Quenault, a full 18 minutes faster than silver medallists Gibraltar and 28 minutes ahead of bronze medallists and fellow Channel Islanders, Guernsey.
In the Women’s Individual Final, Jersey flag bearer Claire Forbes, the sole female Triathlete from Jersey, finished in 9th place.
Orkney’s Claire Rendall took the gold in 2:20:08, with Guernsey’s 18 year old star Hannah Kennedy taking silver, Forbes finishing just eight minutes off the medal places in an excellent top 10 finish in a strong 23-person field.
Athletics
In athletics, Zara Asante landed Jersey’s third gold of the Games in the Women’s Triple Jump event, landing her winning jump with her very first effort.
Asante followed in fellow Jersey athlete Lucy Woodward’s footsteps, defending her gold medal from Guernsey 2023, where Woodward jumped 11.01 metres to take the win.
Asante however went even better, propelling herself to an excellent 11.61 metres on her first jump.
Having recently moved to Jersey from Scotland, Asante’s inaugural Games performance saw her beat out silver medalist Georgia Price from Isle of Man, by 8cm, and Guernsey’s Victoria Hancock in bronze position by 14cm.
Evan Campbell competed well in the Men’s High Jump event, reaching the final, but falling just short of the medal positions.
Campbell finished tied for 4th place at The Pickaquoy Centre with a jump of 1.89 metres to finish alongside Rauno Liitmae of Saaremaa, but could not make the required jump into the 1.90s to push for the podium.
The eventual winner, Regan Corrin of Isle of Man, cleared an impressive 1.97 metres to retain his crown he won in Guernsey 2023.
In the Mens 1,500m event, both Ted Chamberlain and Toby de Gruchy performed well to qualify through their heats and progress to the final.
Chamberlain was superb in Heat 1, winning by nearly half a second ahead of Bermuda’s Jake Brislane, in 3m 58.18s.
In Heat 2, de Gruchy was made to work a little harder for his spot, but he managed to make it in, finishing 6th in his heat in a time of 4:04.20.
Both of Jersey’s Mens 100m competitors Jamie Oldham and recent island record breaker Steven Mackay won their respective heats.
Oldham’s 11.04s and Mackay’s 10.88s were comfortable wins to qualify them into today’s Semi-Finals.
The Mens 1,500m Final is scheduled to take place at The Pickaquoy Centre tomorrow at 19:30pm.
In the Women’s 100m, Jersey’s Lucy Cohu raced well to qualify for the Semi-Finals after a 5th place finish in Heat 3, finishing with a time of 13.35s. Cohu will line up in Semi Final 2 today, set to take place at 18:20pm.
The Men’s 400m event also saw both Tyler Johnson and Will Brown safely negotiate their respective heats to reach the Semi Finals.
Johnson, lining up in Heat 1, comfortably crossed the line in 3rd place with a time of 51.74s, while Brown, in Heat 3, also secured a 3rd place finish, going slightly better in a time of 50.97s.
Johnson will line up in Semi Final 1 today in lane 2 at 10:50am, with Brown in Semi Final 2 at 11am, racing in lane 3.
Jersey’s athletics results are available here: Island Games Results Orkney 2025 | Islands | Jersey | Athletics
Sailing
Meanwhile, Jersey’s sailors were out in full flow at the Orkney 2025 Island Games.
The ILCA (International Laser Class Association) 7 and ILCA 6 are both events that stretch the across the majority of the Games, the event began with the first two races yesterday with the medal ceremony coming on Thursday evening. Both classes host two of Jersey’s finest sailors.
The ILCA 7, the class in which the larger sails compete, has Morgan and Kai Surcouf flying the Jersey sails in an attempt for a podium finish.
Day one saw Kai in a steady sixth position in a field of 18 competitors. Kai amounted a Net 12, finishing seventh in race one, and sixth in race two.
Morgan had a drastic improvement from his first to his second run out. Morgan finished 15th in race one and jumped up the table an impressive ten spots to finish in fifth, one place in front of his Jersey teammate. Morgan sits in mid-table after day one in tenth place.
The ILCA 6, where the smaller blue-cornered rigs compete, was also home to two Jersey sailors sharing the same surname. Tyler and Justin Horton have had a difficult start to their campaign.
Justin finished race one in 12th of 22 places however, his race two finish in 19th leaves him sat 17th in the ICLA 6 standings.
Tyler on the other hand has been consistent finishing 18th and 17th in his two races, he ends his day one in 19th.
With plenty more sailing action to come, all four islanders will be hoping to improve on their first day out in northern waters.
ICLA 6 action continues today with races three and four at 09.30-12.30pm, with ICLA 7’s next two races taking place at 13.50-17.00pm.
Final 1 today in lane 2 at 10:50am, with Brown in Semi Final 2 at 11am, racing in lane 3.
Keep up to date with Jersey’s sailing results here: Island Games Results Orkney 2025 | Islands | Jersey | Sailing
Lawn Bowls
Michael Rive completed an impressive first day of Lawn Bowls, with three wins from three on the opening day of Round Robin competition of the Men’s Singles event.
Rive secured consecutive 2-0 victories over Neil Anderson of Orkney, Stephen Williams of Guernsey and Shetland Islands’ Andy Walterson to sit top of the table at the end of Day 1.
The Jersey Men’s Pair of Josh Band and Kevin Le Long struggled however, falling 19-7 in their one match on Day 1 against Orkney pair Mark Causer and George Rendall.
Band and Le Long sit 7th out of 8 heading into Day 2 today.
Keep up to date with how Rive progresses here: Island Games Results Orkney 2025 | Islands | Jersey | Lawn Bowls
Squash
Matt Boote has qualified for the Quarter Finals of the Men’s Singles Squash event. Boote, competing in his first Island Games, received a bye through the Round of 32, before a thoroughly convincing 3-0 victory over Isle of Man’s Joshua Green in the Round of 16.
Boote won all three sets, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 to book his spot in today’s Quarter Final clash with Orkney’s Finlay Scott, set for an 11.15am start.
Fellow Men’s Singles players Antony Harkin and Will Turpin were however knocked out.
Harkin cruised through his opening Round of 32 contest 3-0 over Stephen Leask of Shetland Islands, winning 11-5, 11-4, 11-5.
However, he came unstuck in the Round of 16, beaten 0-3 by Guernsey’s Janick Radford,
8-11, 3-11, 2-11.
Turpin was less fortunate, losing in his opening Round of 32 fixture against IOM’s Josh Green, who Boote would go on to beat. Turpin was beaten 9-11, 4-11, 5-11.
In the Women’s Singles event, all three of Susan Turpin, Amelie Turpin and Beth Garton have successfully qualified for their Quarter Finals.
Susan Turpin came from behind to win her Round of 16 clash 3-1 over Orkney’s Jane Thomson, 7-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-1.
She will face Emma Turnbull from Cayman Islands in the Quarter Finals.
Garton was excellent in her 3-0 win over Lily Rogers of Gibraltar, 11-5, 12-10, 11-4. She will face Gibraltar’s Victoria Griffin in the Quarter Finals.
Amelie Turpin was equally destructive, also winning 3-0 over Gibraltar’s Colleen Clemens, 11-1, 11-2, 11-5.
Susan Turpin will face Emma Turnbull of Cayman Islands, Garton will face Victoria Griffin of Gibraltar and Amelie Turpin will face Michaela Van Rensburg from Cayman Islands, today between 10.30am and midday.
Keep up to date with the squash results here: Island Games Results Orkney 2025 | Islands | Jersey | Squash
Football
The final event of the first day saw Jersey’s finest female footballers face Bermuda in their opening fixture.
Following a particularly unfortunate exit from the Guernsey 2023 Island Games, where Jersey were knocked out due to a coin-toss, the ladies in red are especially keen to set the record straight.
Jersey faced a tough challenge in their initial Orkney 2025 Island Games fixture, as they played the reigning Island Games champions Bermuda.
Despite their opposition being favoured, Jersey’s women had a bright start against the FIFA ranked Bermuda, with Anita Tavares getting her name on the scoresheet after just six minutes.
An even first-half ended with Jersey still boasting a narrow one-goal lead. Despite pressure from their opponents, the Caesareans stood firm to maintain their advantage.
Bermuda came into the second stanza with a spring in their step, it took just 15 minutes for the Guernsey 2023 winners to find an equaliser.
Bermuda doubled down soon after once a penalty was finally awarded. After an unfortunate handball in the Jersey 18-yard-box, Bermuda took the lead converting from the spot-kick.
Bermuda added to their 2-1 lead in the dying moments. A brilliant save from Luce saw the ball tipped onto the bar, but an opposing striker was there to collect the rebound and tap home a third.
A closely matched 3-1 loss in the opening match of their campaign is a commendable result.
Promising signs from Jersey’s women will hopefully be transferred into today’s fixture against the Shetland Islands.
The fixture between Shetland Islands and Isle of Wight earlier in the day finished 1-1.
A 15:30pm kick-off at Orkney’s KGS Pitch 2 will give Jersey the chance to get their first points on the board at this year’s Island Games.
Check out the current group standings here: Island Games Results Orkney 2025 | Islands | Jersey | Football
Day Two
Many events are taking place today with plenty of podium potential within Jersey’s ranks.
All of Jersey’s Day Two events are listed here: Island Games Results Orkney 2025 | Schedule
