JERSEY’S Swimmers were the standout performers at the Orkney 2025 Island Games winning an incredible 13 golds, 11 silvers and nine bronze medals.
On day one, 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.”
On day two, Filip Nowacki continued 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.
Another fantastic day in the pool brought a wonderful story to fruition. On day three, the Dodds family stole the spotlight at the Orkney 2025 Island Games swimming competition, with Isaac, Oscar, and Elsa all earning podium finishes, a remarkable achievement for the siblings.
Isaac Dodds won bronze in the Men’s 100m Individual Medley alongside the unstoppable Filip Nowacki. Nowacki broke yet another Island Games record in the race, securing his sixth gold of the week.
Nowacki has proven how relentless he is, his second gold of the night came in the Men’s 50m Butterfly. No record this time, but yet another top prize for the young swimmer.
Oscar Dodds won silver in the Men’s 200m Backstroke, a fantastic swim alongside teammate and gold medalist Isaac Thompson. The pair proved to be a level above the field with 0.1 seconds between their times, and a four second lead on third place.
Elsa Dodds, similar to her older brother, earned her podium finish in the 200m Backstroke. Dodds competed alongside Megan Hansford who acquired a silver medal with yet another remarkable performance.
Clara Ginnis’ success in the pool continued with another gold medal. Just a day after smashing the 1500m Freestyle, Ginnis proved her ability to compete in a number of events.
She took gold in the 400m Freestyle ahead of talented Guernsey pair Orla Rabey and Delphine Riley. Jersey’s Hannah Sterry narrowly missed out in fourth.
Continuing on the family theme, Samuel Sterry earned his third medal of this year’s games in the 800m Freestyle. An excellent eight minute and nine second swim secured Sterry a comfortable silver.
His brother, Thomas, was also pipped to the bronze medal. The Sterry family were just seconds away from replicating the Dodds’ impressive family feat.
On day four, 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.
Young Nowacki was pleased with his individual performance, alongside the team’s performance: “I’m tremendously happy, the team are very happy. I’ve exceeded my own expectations and I think the team have as well.
“I was focusing on the breaststroke events coming into the Games, I performed well in those. I feel I got a bit lucky with the fly and really surprised myself with the Individual Medley with a massive personal best, so I’m really happy with how it’s gone.”
Nowacki mentioned the cohesion of the Jersey winning team: “I’ve trained with these boys throughout my whole life, so they definitely contribute to mine and the team’s success.”
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.
An incredible week of swimming conveyed the constant hard work put in behind the scenes in Jersey’s young swimmers.
