IF two golds on the opening day of the NatWest Island Games were not enough to whet the appetite, Team Jersey followed that with an incredible nine on day two.
Hosts Guernsey also enjoyed a fruitful day, taking their gold tally up to 16, however the Caesareans ensured their voice was heard on Sarnian soil.
There was double gold for Jersey’s tennis stars as both the men’s and women’s team events secured the first podium places of day two of the Island Games.
Jersey landed the right side of two thrilling finals as both fixtures boiled down to a deciding doubles contest.
On the women’s side Tash Forrest and Antonija Sokic won their battle against Gotland in straight sets to seal the victory, just in time to rush over and see the men’s tandem of Stuart Parker and Scott Weaver win their duel against Menorca by way of a champions tie break.
It seemed as though the racket action from Longcamps opened the proverbial floodgates for Team Jersey, as gold medals continued to roll in.
Next, came the shooting duo of Spencer Barr and Ben Videgrain in the NPA service pistol B team event, as they secured victory by two points over Hitra.
Meanwhile, at Port Soif, Lucy O’Sullivan reminded the archery world of her pedigree, as she stormed to individual gold in the women’s 1440 compound singles event, 43 points clear of her nearest competitor from the Isle of Man.
Her impressive individual display proved valuable on the team front also as Jersey secured the gold over Isle of Man and Guernsey respectively.
Swimming has historically provided the Caesareans with a healthy dose of Island Games medals and the first evening of pool action did not disappoint.
Isaac Dodds seized his moment to claim Jersey’s first swimming gold in the men’s 200m butterfly, as the only finalist to swim under two minutes.
He then doubled his personal tally later that evening, pipping teammate Robbie Jones to win the 200m individual medley.
Next up was Games veteran Gemma Atherley, who added to her impressive total medal count with a gold in the women’s 200m freestyle.
It was Robbie Jones who rounded off the pool action in style, pipping home athlete Thomas Hollingsworth to the gold in the men’s 50m backstroke.
After the excitement of yesterday’s tennis action, Jersey attention will turn to a different ball sport today with the table tennis team in semi final action against Isle of Wight, after bulldozing through the group stages with five consecutive wins, and O’Sullivan returns to archery action at Port Soif, this time for the women’s 720 compound.
