THE penultimate day of the games brought more medal success for Jersey at the Orkney 2025 Island Games.
Podium finishes in Swimming, Cycling, Athletics, Lawn Bowls and Archery keep Jersey in contention at the top of the medal table, currently sitting three gold medals behind the Faroe Islands with one day remaining.
Swimming
The relentless Filip Nowacki dominated in the pool once again breaking his most impressive record yet. Nowacki stormed the 200m Breaststroke record in both his Prelim and Final.
Nowacki broke Pal Joensen’s previous record which stood at 2:14.82s by a comfortable four seconds, with 2:10.24s, in his heat. Nowacki then smashed his own new record by a huge five seconds.
Nowacki clocked a spectacular 2:05.89s which is 0.04 seconds short of the Olympic Record. Although Nowacki swam a short course which makes his time faster than in a long course (Olympic pool), Nowacki is an incredible talent with an extremely bright future ahead of him.
Oscar Dodds swam a fantastic race alongside Nowacki, finishing in second place earning himself another silver medal.
Jersey’s only other gold medal came from the impressive Clara Ginnis, who has made an exceptional account of herself at these Island Games. Ginnis has won three individual golds in long-distance swimming, the 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle.
Her teammate Hannah Sterry has constantly been on the tail of Ginnis, finishing in second place again she has earned her second individual silver medal of the Games.
Samuel Sterry followed in her footsteps by winning his fourth silver medal of the week, a fantastic swim in the 400m Freestyle saw Sterry take home eight medals from this year’s Island Games.
Jersey’s 33rd and final medal earned at the Pickaquoy Centre was won by the Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay team. Erin Goodbody, Megan Hansford, Hannah Sterry, and Elizabeth Grant won bronze.
Cycling
An incredible team effort from Jersey Mountain Biker’s win second Team gold of the week.
Five of the top eight spots belonged to those in a Jersey strip at Binscarth Farm. Individual medals were picked up by Jacob Mauger in the silver medal position, with James Dilks winning consecutive bronze medals.
Mauger clocked an impressive time of 1 hour 35 minutes and 18 seconds. Dilks trailed just a minute behind with 01:36.32.
The Shetland Islands’ gold medalist, Grant Ferguson, was the only man that stood in the way of an all-Jersey podium as Jay Cracknell finished in fourth place.
Team captain Ben Richards and Liam Cadoret finished in seventh and eighth. A swarm of red outfits leading the way in Orkney lead to Jersey’s second Cross Country Team gold in a row.
Rhys Hidrio led the line winning the Individual Cross Country Race in Guernsey 2023, contributing to a team gold.
Archery
Jersey’s Compound Team won silver in Head-to-Head Knockout competition, whilst Recurve Team land bronze medal. The Jersey Compound Team won this event in Guernsey 2023 and were hoping to replicate that feat this time out.
Unfortunately, the team comprised of Hannah Bridle, Francisco Rocha and Heath Perrett lost out to the Faroe Islands in the Final. After a nail-biting Semi-Final against the Isle of Man, edging the contest 220-218, Jersey were unable to withstand the Faroe Islands’ class.
It was a similar outcome in the Recurve Team Knockouts; the brute force of the Faroe Islands took gold once again.
Jersey’s Recurve Team, Freddie Crosby, Mollie Perrett, and Tony Vardon made a fantastic start to the Knockouts beating Aland 6-0 in the Quarter-Final.
However, the trio were toppled 6-2 by Guernsey’s silver medal winning team in the Semi-Finals. Nevertheless, the Jersey team were on point in the Bronze Medal Match beating the Shetland Islands 6-0.
These two successes mark Jersey’s archers tenth medal of the Orkney 2025 Island Games.
Lawn Bowls
Jersey’s Men’s Triples team won silver in the Round Robin competition, losing out to hosts Orkney following their head-to-head battle.
Jersey’s trio of Michael Rive, Kevin Le Long and Josh Band were full of confidence heading into their final opportunity at a medal at this year’s Island Games. All three Jerseymen had won silverware earlier in the week and were hoping for gold.
Unfortunately, the hosts beat Jersey 15-10 in a face-off between the two favourites. Orkney continued to hold an unbeaten record winning six from six, whilst Jersey’s only loss came to Orkney.
Nonetheless, a hard-fought silver meant that Jersey completed the medal collection with a gold, silver, and bronze in the Lawn Bowls events.
Gymnastics
Jersey’s Gymnasts took to the Stromness Academy to partake in the second day of gymnastics events.
A number of qualifying rounds yesterday saw Jersey’s gymnasts perform in a pool of talented competitors.
The only final in yesterday’s competition was the women’s FIG overall individual, in which the Faroe Islands claimed their tenth gymnastics gold.
From 54 competitors, Jersey’s best performer was Saffron Butler, who impressed to finish 21st, just inside the top half. Olivia Simey followed close behind in 23rd.
The quartet of Tilly Le Boutillier, Bethany Munn, Amalie Manton and Emily Davy all put in a valiant effort to finish in the top 40.
Butler continued to impress achieving Jersey’s highest qualifying position in the women’s FIG individual vault, Butler placed 13th with a quality score of 11.250.
Munn achieved an impressive score of 10.200 in the women’s FIG individual beam to place highest of the Jersey competitors in 21st. A top-half finish continued to be the benchmark for the Jersey athletes. Butler qualified in 22nd in the asymmetric bars category, with Le Boutillier hot on her heels in tied 23rd.
Simey clocked her best score in the individual floor event, she placed 17th with a splendid 10.350.
The Men’s events brought some top performances out of Jersey’s gymnasts. Jayden Barry took 11th spot in the Men’s FIG Individual Vault, as did Benjamin Williams in the Overall Individual.
The Men’s category was equally as challenging with the Faroe Islands dominating across the board. Jersey’s best finish came from Benjamin Williams, finishing eighth in the Individual Pommel. The finals are set to take place today between 9am and 2pm.
Football
Jack Cannon’s Men’s Football team faced Bermuda in the Semi-Final yesterday evening. An action-packed affair saw Jersey on the wrong end of an exciting comeback in extra-time.
A strong start from Jersey was rewarded by striker Harrison Moon who found the back of the net after pouncing onto a loose ball. An advantage at the 20-minute mark was carried into half-time.
The second half was an end-to-end duel with Bermuda applying bundles of pressure on the young Jersey defence. Bermuda’s equaliser came from substitute, Andrew Armstrong, in the 84th minute.
The late leveller took the Semi-Final to extra-time, which unfolded as a dramatic final half an hour. The first action was a spot-kick for Bermuda. Harry Gladdish saved the effort from 12-yards, as well as the rebound to keep Jersey alive.
Young Sonny Cassidy, introduced off the substitutes bench, gave Jersey the lead on the stroke of half-time in extra-time. Jersey needed to hold on for another 15 minutes to secure their spot in the Final.
Gladdish was fantastic for Jersey in extra-time making a number of fantastic stops to deny the dangerous Bermuda pressure. Gladdish did all he could until the final stages.
Bermuda scored two very late goals to swing the tie in their favour. Goals after 118- and 120-minutes broke Jersey hearts. Despite their determined efforts, Jersey were denied the opportunity at a gold medal.
Nonetheless, Jersey will face the Isle of Man in the Bronze Medal Game at 14:30pm.
Jersey’s women lost out in their fifth/sixth place play-off yesterday. Chad Morris’s women were unlucky as they went down to ten-men for the second game on the bounce.
This time however, the ladies found it difficult to get a foothold in the match. After conceding an early penalty and going a player down, Jersey were in for an uphill climb.
A difficult first half saw Jersey four goals down to Ynys Mon. The reds eventually clawed a goal back in the second half, to eventually lose 4-1.
Keep up to date with the latest results on Final Day here: Island Games Results Orkney 2025
