DAY Three of the Orkney 2025 Island Games is another hugely successful one for the Jersey camp.
A number of medals in Swimming, Athletics, Archery, Cycling and Lawn Bowls shoot Jersey into second on the medal table, continuing their pursuit of the Faroe Islands in the top spot.
Swimming
Filip Nowacki continues to cement his name into the Island Games history books with incredible performances in the pool.
Nowacki broke the Men’s 50m Breaststroke record in his preliminary heat in yesterday’s morning session, consequently beating his own record in the evenings Finals. Nowacki set a new record of 27.21s to beat previous holder, and Jerseyman Ian Black’s time of 27.80s.
Nowacki added to his three individual gold medals with a fourth in the 100m Butterfly.
Jersey duo of Clara Ginnis and Hannah Sterry secured gold and silver in the long-distance 1500m Freestyle. Incredible swims from start to finish from the pair earned Jersey more silverware.
Ginnis swam an excellent 16:53.40 to take gold with Sterry following closely with a 17:01.54. Sterry was a huge 37 seconds better off than the bronze medal winning Guernsey swimmer Delphine Riley.
Samuel Sterry and Isaac Dodds completed a similar feat in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley. Sterry with gold and Dodds with silver. The pair continued Jersey’s dominance in the pool.
Jersey’s quartet of Matthew Deffains, Joseph Swart, Isaac Dodds, and Nowacki capped off an excellent evening in the pool with a bronze in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay.
Archery
Another fantastic day for Jersey’s archers at the Pickaquoy Centre resulted in two podium finishes.
Following some top performances in yesterday’s morning session Jersey’s teams secured efforts at gold. Mollie Perrett’s excellent individual performance in the seeding rounds saw her come out on top in the Women’s 720 Compound. She was then paired with ninth place Freddie Crosby to compete in the Mixed Recurve.
The pair beat Orkney 6-0 in the Quarter Finals, and Guernsey 5-3 in the Semi-Finals. Facing the Shetland Islands in the Final, the pair were guaranteed a minimum of Silver.
An excellent showing in the Final saw the Jersey duo win the second gold in Archery this year. A confident 5-1 victory took Perrett to her second gold of the Games.
Similarly, Francisco Rocha and Hannah Bridle advanced to the Final beating Orkney by a single point in the Semi-Final. The pair were unfortunate to lose out in the Final to the Faroe Islands. Nonetheless, another silver medal was secured for Jersey.
Athletics
The Track and Field excellence of Jersey’s athletes was continued in yesterday’s outing.
Ted Chamberlain completed an excellent run in the Men’s 1500m to take pole position earning himself a gold medal. A rapid 3:55.53 announced himself as the winner ahead of Guernsey’s Christopher Bain who took silver.
17-year-old Daniel Dubras took silver in the Men’s Javelin. Dubras launched a huge 57.97m throw to finish in a comfortable second place. He was beaten only by Rauno Liitmae of Saaremaa, who pitched a 60.49m throw.
100m silver medalist Jamie Oldham and Tyler Johnson have both qualified for the 200m Finals today following excellent performances in the Heats and Semi-Finals yesterday. The race is set to take place at 18:50pm.
Lawn Bowls
Lawn bowls dished out their first medals of this year’s Island Games yesterday, and Jersey were right in and amongst the top finishers.
An astounding performance from Michael Rive was the standout achievement across the board in the Lawn Bowls competition. Rive won six from six in the Men’s Round Robin tournament, losing just one leg of 11.
Rive’s near impeccable record meant he collected the plaudits and won gold in the first Island Games Lawn Bowls competition since 2005.
The Men’s Pairing of Josh Band and Kevin Le Long completed an emphatic comeback in yesterday’s fixtures. The pair were unlikely to reach a podium finish after the first two days of competition, but winning three of their final three matches, they managed to snag a bronze medal.
Cycling
Yesterday brought the Men’s Mountain Bike Criterium, with plenty of Jersey talent looking to place.
James Dilks was the only rider to place, coming in third place Dilks secured Jersey another bronze medal. Dilks’ individual brilliance helped the Jersey Team to an even bigger achievement.
The Men’s Team won gold in the Criterium Team Award, pipping second placed Guernsey to the post. The group of Dilks, Jay Cracknell, Jacob Mauger, Liam Cadoret, and Ben Richards acquired gold through their excellent individual efforts.
Cracknell finished in fifth, with Richards following closely in eighth. Cadoret and Mauger finished mid-table in 15th and 17th. An excellent return for Jersey’s cyclists.
Football
A rollercoaster of emotions for both the Men’s and Women’s contingents on day three saw the Women’s team narrowly miss out on the Semi-Finals, whilst the Men’s squad secured their spot in the knockout stages.
An action-packed affair between Jersey’s men and Shetland Islands finished in a 2-2 draw.
17-year-old Ewan Brodie opened the scoring with a brilliantly executed strike from what looked like a crossing position. His effort nestled in the far bottom corner much to the surprise of the Shetland goalkeeper.
Jersey quickly doubled their lead through Connor Maher. Maher capitalised on a defensive mishap in the opposition box, his effort from close range bounced in off the crossbar.
The match was a feisty one from the beginning, both sides itching for a spot in the Semi-Finals. Each team had a player dismissed once the final whistle had blown. The first dismissal of the match was Jersey’s Frank Tobin, a straight red card in the first half for a dangerous challenge.
Shetland narrowed the deficit in the 38th minute with a bullet header following a deep free kick. Jersey’s one goal advantage was carried into half time.
The second half brought more excitement. Early in the second half, Shetland had one of their own sent to the changing rooms following a last man challenge.
However, as the playing field became even, so did the scoreline. Shetland equalised in the 83rd minute, giving the reds a nervy final 10 minutes.
Some brilliant defending in stoppage time saw the young Jersey squad over the line. Jack Cannon’s side will face Bermuda tomorrow evening at 5pm.
Unfortunately for the Women’s side, an emphatic 4-0 victory with 10-men was not enough to see them through to the Semi-Finals.
An incredible performance from the Jersey side, notably Roisin Flynn who managed a brilliant hat-trick, was unfortunately overshadowed by just missing out on the knockout stages.
Jersey needed to secure themselves as the ‘next best’ across all three group as the winners of each group automatically proceeded to the Semi’s. With Bermuda winning Jersey’s group they were unlucky not to get the chance at a medal.
Gozo managed seven points coming second in Group A, whilst Jersey only managed six. Nonetheless, the Ladies did themselves proud with three excellent performances and have a shot at securing fifth place against Ynys Mon tomorrow.
Squash
Orkney’s squash competition is brimming with incredible talent giving Jersey’s athletes a difficult outing.
Jersey’s standout performer Beth Garton had the opportunity to snatch a bronze medal against the Caymans Islands’ Michaela Janse Van Rensburg in a third/fourth place play-off.
Unfortunately for Garton, Van Rensberg proved the superior force in a well-fought match. Garton lost 3-1 to confirm the Cayman Islands’ triple medal swoop with two Cayman squash players competing in the Final.
Yesterday saw mother and daughter, Amelie and Susan Turpin, face off in a fifth/sixth place play-off. Amelie took the reigns of this fixture dominating three of the four matches. Amelie won 3-1 with scores of 12-10, 5-11, 11-8, 11-7.
Finishing fifth and sixth as a pair demonstrates the quality of Jersey’s female squash scene.
Matthew Boote also claimed fifth place in his play-off against Guernsey’s Janick Radford in straight sets.
An authoritative performance from Boote saw him win 11-7, 11-9, and 11-7 again. A commendable result for the Jerseyman.
Anthony Harkin secured a top-ten finish beating Thomas Whiteway of the Isle of Man in consecutive sets.
Finally, William Turpin also won his play-off Final in straight sets to finish 21st in the Men’s competition.
Check out which Jersey athletes are in action today here: Island Games Results Orkney 2025 | Schedule
