The medal winners: Back row, from left, Ben Le Clercq, Antoin Le Fevre, Ian Black and Tom Gallichan; front row: JJ Gallichan, Iona Richardson, Emma Glendening, Katie Speller, Ebony Jacklin

THREE gold medals, four silvers and two Island Games records have crowned an astonishing opening night for Jersey’s swimmers in Aland.

Australia-based Ian Black overcame hayfever woes to race a blistering 100m breaststroke in a gold medal-winning and Island record-breaking time of 1.03.29 min, before launching a ferocious attack on the 200m individual medley, soaring to first in 2.03.90 min – and smashing the Island Games record by a second.

Jersey’s third gold came from Katy Speller, who swam a stunning 400m IM in 4.52.29 min – another Island Games record – to which she added silver in the 200m freestyle, coming within touching distance of another gold, after a valiant sprint to the finish and a time of 2.05.75 min.

There were more silver medals for Jersey’s relay teams – the boys surprised themselves, and their coaches, with a second placing in the 4x50m medley relay, while the girls proved their ability in the 4x50m freestyle, finishing within a second of the winning Faroe Islands team.

Silver medalist JJ Gallichan, too, scored a phenomenal result in his 1,500m final – not only did he take a massive 30 seconds off his PB, and come close to Simon Militis’ Island record, in a time of 15.46 min, but he finished just two seconds behind the Faroes’ Pal Joensen, who is ranked 15th in the world and had submitted a time 90 seconds faster than any other entrant.

Despite team changes from Rhodes, Jersey’s ability in the pool is already obvious – as well as seven medals, Jersey had finalists in almost every event.

Although our swimmers are well-used to the Island Games podium, even coach Nathan Jégou and team manager Neil Faudemer couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing.

Jégou said their biggest medal hopes lie later in the week, which means, remarkably, that the best could be yet to come.

Faudemer says he is delighted with the way the team has prepared for these Games, and that their focus and enthusiasm has seriously paid off.

He said: ‘Some of them really exerted themselves, particularly the boys’ relay team, who we didn’t expect to get a medal, but they swam absolutely fantastically. The performances for the first night have been tremendous, and we’ve got two Island Games records.

‘Everyone has put in so much effort at training, so the results we’ve got are really deserved.’