DAY two of competition at the Orkney 2025 Island Games brings more joy for Jersey as they sit third in the medal table.
Swimming
Jersey’s hottest swimming property in 17-year-old Filip Nowacki spearheaded a fantastic evening for Jersey swimming breaking two Island Games records and stealing two golds in the process.
Nowacki created history once again, breaking the Island Games record in the 100m breaststroke event in his first Games appearance with a rapid time of 58.73 seconds. He then went on to smash his own record by 0.63s later in the day during the Finals to swoop his first gold of the evening.
The previous record was held by fellow Jerseyman Ian Black, back in the Jersey 2015 Games where he recorded a time of 1m 00.24s, meaning Nowacki is the first man in Island Games history to duck under the one-minute mark in the event.
Nowacki’s third record break of the day came in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley, again beating the previous record held by a Jerseyman. Harry Shalamon’s record of 2:00.35s was cleared by Nowacki’s 1:59.17s.
21-year-old Isaac Dodds put in some excellent performances alongside Nowacki, swooping bronze in the Medley as well as a Silver in the Men’s 200m Butterfly.
The two joined forces alongside Matthew Deffains and Isaac Thompson to secure another silver medal for Jersey in the 4x50m Medley Relay.
Thompson secured a medal of his own in the Men’s 50m Backstroke finishing third on the podium, bringing Jersey another bronze medal in the pool.
Similarly, young Clara Ginnis finished in the bronze medal position behind Guernsey counterparts Chloe Bown and Oriana Wheeler. Teammate Hannah Sterry was unlucky to miss out finishing in fourth.
Jersey’s eighth and final medal in the swimming came in the 1500m Freestyle where Samuel Sterry attained a comfortable silver with a fantastic endurance swim.
Jersey’s swimming coach, Nathan Jegou, was very pleased with his swimmers’ performances: “It was a great start, everyone stepped up exactly how we asked them to putting in a really good shift in the heats, as well as the finals.”
Jegou continued: “We had superb swimming in the finals, as long as we stay focused and concentrate on ourselves, everything else falls into place.”
Athletics
Jersey’s Track and Field athletes had a brilliant evening in Orkney adding medals of their own to the overall tally.
Jersey all-rounder Evan Campbell, who is competing in Long Jump, High Jump, Javelin, and Shot Put, put his first gold medal on the board yesterday evening.
After finishing just outside the podium in fourth place in Sunday’s High Jump, Campbell took to the Shot Put field and performed emphatically taking home the gold medal.
Campbell’s throw of 14.29m cleared Orkney’s Calum Elder, who sat in second place, by 29cm. Campbell was elated with his performance: “My performance was good; I was really pleased with it. I wanted to come out and technically execute today, and I did that.”
Campbell will hope to add to his tally in today’s Javelin at 5pm, alongside Wednesday’s Javelin at the same time.
Jersey continued to impress on the track events throughout the evening. The first track event of the evening was the long-distance Men’s 10,000m Final where Jersey had two runners in George Rice and Rahul Kini.
Rice ran an incredible race, especially considering he suffered a broken collar bone just a few weeks ago, building on his bronze medal in Guernsey 2023 to steal a silver medal in a sprint finish with Gozo’s Charlton Debono.
Rice was beaten only by the new Island Games record holder Corrin Leeming who finished a ridiculous two minutes and seven seconds ahead of second place. Kini ran a solid race finishing in 11th place.
Jersey prevailed in the main attraction of Track and Field, the 100m sprints, with both silver and bronze medals.
Jersey boast two of the quickest individuals across the competing islands in Jamie Oldham and Steven Mackay. Both sprinters qualified for the Final comfortably finishing top two in Heat Semi-Final 1.
Unfortunately for the speedy duo, they were met by the rapid Sebastia Pons Triay who was running in his first Island Games representing Menorca; Pons Triay ran a showstopping 10.68s.
Oldham followed closely in second place with an impressive 10.88s. The island record holder Mackay was the only other runner to clock a sub-11-second sprint landing a bronze medal with his 10.94s run.
Oldham was pleased with his performance: “I’m very happy with the silver, I wasn’t too confident that I’d come away with it, but my hamstring held up and executed my perfect race.”
“I was tunnel vision, I thought someone’s got to win it, I focused on the gun like I always do. It feels unreal to share the podium with Steve, he deserves it he’s very hard on himself because he was in such good form coming into the race. He was injured but he still came out and executed.”
Mackay on the other hand, felt he could have performed better: “Reflecting on it, I am happy with it, but deep down I was hoping to get a little bit shinier than a bronze medal.”
Mackay was struggling with a slight injury to his hamstring: “I feel it go in the Semi-Final, but I had to strap up and prepare for the Final. It felt alright until I got into the blocks, and then I started to feel it going and I thought there’s no chance.”
Despite his disappointment, Mackay improved drastically from the 2023 Games: “It’s a big upgrade from Guernsey.” Said Mackay. The sprinter finished sixth out of eight last time out.
Two Islanders reached the 400m final, Tyler Johnson and Will Brown had successful campaigns to reach the Final. Unfortunately for the two Jersey athletes, the field was a quick one.
Johnson finished fifth with a rapid time of 49.89 seconds which emphasises the level of competition. Brown unfortunately pulled up with a muscle injury in the opening few strides of the Final.
Jersey’s Track and Field athletes put in a brilliant performance yesterday to bring home four more medals, with more opportunities in the coming days.
Cycling
Jersey men’s cycling team secured a silver medal in the men’s time trial event.
The Jersey quartet of Ollie Cadin, Tom Huelin, Sam Nisbet and Jack Rebours combined to land second place overall, with Isle of Man taking the gold and Gibraltar claiming the bronze.
The Jersey men have held previous success in this event, having won the gold medal back in the Gotland 2017 Games.
However, the impressive Isle of Man team have secured their seventh gold medal in nine games in this event.
First man across the line for Jersey was Tom Huelin, who just missed out on the podium with a fourth place finish in a time of 1:00.58.3s – 45 seconds off the bronze medal place.
Sam Nisbet finished in eighth place in 1:01:47.9 for an impressive top ten finish.
Ollie Cadin finished further back, crossing the line in 31st place in 1:08:32.6.
Jersey’s cyclists will face a different challenge today in the Men’s Individual Mountain Bike Criterium.
Archery
Jersey’s archers endured a brilliant first day of action in Orkney.
Mollie Perrett displayed why she was tipped to perform at the Games taking the Single WA 1440 Women’s Recurve by storm. A massive score of 1122, including 20 golds, awarded the Jersey athlete with the gold that really mattered. Monika Komla of Guernsey took the bronze medal home.
Another Perrett prevailed in the Women’s Compound event; Angela Perrett secured a bronze medal to add to Jersey’s tally.
Hannah Bridle narrowly missed out finishing just nine points behind Perrett.
The Single WA 1440 Recurve Team won silver finishing second of nine teams. Frederick Crosby, Darren Jones, Mollie Perrett and Tony Vardon smashed a total of 3193 to secure silver behind the Faroe Islands.
The Compound Team won bronze to acquire the fourth archery prize for Jersey. Angela Perrett, Hannah Bridle, Heath Perrett, and Francisco Rocha posted scores worthy of another podium finish.
Football
It was two wins from two from Jersey’s football teams in today’s Island Games episode. Both sides executed composed 2-0 victories to aid their chances of progressing through the group stages.
Jack Cannon’s squad are hoping to retain the Island Games victory from Guernsey in 2023, and they made the perfect start.
The Men’s side faced Gozo in what was an incredibly windy affair making life difficult for both sets of players. However, utilising their quality on the ball and displaying tactical acumen throughout, the reds came away with a deserved win.
Both sides created chances early on but neither side could steal the advantage in the opening stages.
It was Jersey who found a way through in the 23rd minute through Robert Martins-Figuera. A slide-rule pass from Ewan Brodie, using the wind to his advantage, found an oncoming Martins-Figuera at the back post who nudged his volley past the Gozo goalkeeper.
Jersey, playing with the wind, continued to dominate. Harrison Moon was next to find the back of the net. The striker pounced on a defensive error to conjure himself a simple finish, Moon coolly passed the helpless goalkeeper and slotted away Jersey’s second.
A 2-0 lead at half-time conveyed the red dominance in the first half.
Cannon’s young side continued to display elite composure throughout the second stanza. A poised performance saw the reds victorious over Gozo.
Chad Morris’s women displayed much of the same against the Shetland Islands following their 3-1 defeat to Bermuda yesterday.
Picture: GEORGE MARRIOTT
A brutally windy but sunny day meant tough conditions once again for Jersey’s footballers. Nonetheless, the ladies side showed plenty of grit and determination to grind out the result.
The first half was a tight affair with neither side creating many goalscoring opportunities. Leah Morris and Sam Silva came closest, but neither could convert.
The second half, however, was an entirely different story. With Roisin Flynn and Anita Tavares causing problems down the Jersey right hand side.
Their efforts were rewarded when a Sofia Rodrigues corner was turned in by a Shetland defender. A well-deserved first nudged the reds in front.
With the majority of possession, Jersey continued to press. Flynn’s tenacious performance was deserving of a goal, and she got her reward. A long-range effort from the number seven looped over the stranded Shetland goalkeeper into the far top-corner.
With a two-goal advantage, Jersey looked comfortable in the closing stages of the match. A fantastic defensive display from Morris’s reds resulted in a deserved clean sheet.
Jersey’s women now sit second in Group B with their final group match against the Isle of Wight taking place tomorrow at 15:30pm.
Cannon’s side will face off against the Shetland Islands at 19:00pm. A win will secure their progression from the group stages solidifying their chances at some silverware.
Gymnastics
Jersey’s male gymnasts had a challenging day on day two of the Orkney 2025 Island Games.
The men’s individual vault saw Jonathan Dupoy impress with a seventh- placed finish, the highest placing of any of the team, with a score of 9.475.
Teammates Ben Williams, Jayden Barry, Harry Lapthorn-Nears, Cosimo Dhami-Hounsome and Thomas Penn struggled throughout the day, though still recording some solid scores in an invaluable day of learning for the young team.
The Faroe Islands proved to host a plethora of impressive gymnasts making it difficult for any nation to post podium finishes. The Faroe Islands won an incredible 9 gold medals from a possible 12.
The Jersey ladies posted a respectable seventh place finish as a team in the Women’s Team 4-Piece. Saffron Butler, Emily Davy, Tilly Le Boutillier, Amalie Manton, Bethany Munn, and Olivia Simey put in a fantastic team effort in a difficult competition to finish just 12 points outside of the podium.
Sailing
After two days of sailing, Morgan Surcouf sits in eight place and Kai Surcouf sits 10th in the ILCA 7 event.
Morgan has recorded some strong results in the opening four races, including 15th, fifth, 10th and eighth respectively to sit in eighth overall with a total of 38.
Kai sits just five points behind him in 10th, with results so far of seventh, sixth, 13th and 17th to combine for a total of 43.
Justin and Tyler Horton, competing in the ILCA 6 event, currently sit 14th and 18th respectively.
Justin has recorded finishes of 12th, 19th, 10th and 14th for an overall total of 55.
Tyler on the other hand has recorded results of 18th, 17th, 13th and 13th respectively for a total overall of 61 from the first four races.
Island Games action continues today with medals up for grabs in Athletics and Cycling.
Keep up to date with the Island Games results here: Orkney 2025
