ROBBIE Jones completed a golden first day of swimming for Jersey but he had to wait to the last race of the day to win the 50m backstroke in dramatic circumstances.
Jones originally lined up for his 50m backstroke race much earlier in the evening than when it was finally swum but, just as the swimmers were about to take off, the starting block fell on to his head.
Oblivious to the issue, the other competitors continued with the race while the officials tried to stop them. The Jerseyman was clearly shaken and the race was suspended.
After agreeing the race would be restarted, Jones gathered his composure to claim gold.
‘Going into the [50m backstroke] final I knew I was the favourite. I’m not too happy with the time but it doesn’t really matter for an event like this. Just touching the wall first was the only thing that mattered,’ said Jones.
‘I already had a tough plan coming into it with all the other races. Then I had what happened when the whole block just came over and smashed me in the head, and the 200 individual medley straight after absolutely killed me. To get my head in the right frame of mind, it was obviously quite difficult, so I’m just happy with the result.’
The incident with the starting block did impact the 200m medley as Jones had little time to recover before doing battle with Isaac Dodds. In an intriguing battle, it was the latter that came out the winner in a time of 2mins 2.04secs, winning by just 0.74 seconds ahead of Jones [2:02.88].
‘I thought I was the favourite for the race but I’ve got to hand it to Isaac, straight out of the two fly to do that – he’s swimming really well and I’m glad he’s doing really well,’ said Jones.
Dodds had earlier won the 200m butterfly, while veteran swimmer Gemma Atherley, in her fifth Island Games, comfortably won the 200m freestyle to add to her vast collection of medals.
Atherley also picked up silver in the 100m butterfly, with Games débutante Sienna Stephens getting bronze in the same race, while the two also won bronze in the 4 x 50m freestyle medley relay with other Games first-timers, Megan Hansford and Elizabeth Powell, in a new Jersey record time of 1:47.31.
The first medal of the night for Jersey, though, went to Clara Ginnis in the second race of the evening, winning silver in the 400m individual medley.
Dodds and Jones also combined with George Storey and Ollie Brehaut for a silver in the 4x50m medley before Jones eventually got his gold in the 50m backstroke in a time of 26.26.
Meanwhile, Atherley, even though still only 25 years old, was pleased to revel in her role of elder statesperson, guiding the new young girls on the block and offer her experience and wisdom.
‘When you get older it’s all about managing the volume of the crowd but Megan, Elizabeth and Sienna put together a really spectacular performance and an Island record.’
And Stephens was keen to repay the compliments to Atherley adding: ‘She’s a great inspiration to all of us.’
