Last Updated: 19:56
Day Two of six at the Gibraltar 2019 NatWest International Island Games brought about it’s first medal for Ynys Mon, and a number of other firsts as well on another positive day for the Welsh side.
Patrick Harris in the Men’s Shot Putt Final secured Ynys Mon’s first medal of the Games with a stellar performance to secure third place – and a personal best in the process – with an effort of 12.58m putting him behind perennial Shot Putt medallists Genro Paas and Erik Larsson in the standings.
Two fourth-placed runs in the 200m Men’s semi-final and the 400m Hurdles Men’s Heats saw Zach Price and Guto Tegid both advance to their respective finals, but they weren’t able to compete for medals in those events as more experienced opponents and seasoned medal winners took the top three spots.
Both Guto and Zach, however, secured Ynys Mon records at the Games with their efforts. In the 400m Hurdles Guto’s time of 58.85 seconds in the heats was enough to top Euron Roberts’ effort at the Guernsey games back in 2003 (58.93s), and Zach equalled a 200m record set in 1987 by Gethin Thomas (22.89s) in his race.
Despite eighth-placed finishes for both, Tegid and Price had very valuable experiences against seasoned opposition, with Price in eighth in the 200m finishing just a second off first, in very challenging conditions against a headwind of 7.6m/s. Cai Roberts also secured a very creditable fifth-placed finish in the 3000m Steeplechase Event late in the day, and wasn’t far away from securing an Ynys Mon record at the Games with his efforts.
A 3-2 win over the Western Isles in the 15th-placed Playoff saw Ynys Mon secure their first Team Event win of the Games, and Team Coach Lee Matthews expressed his pride at his team’s efforts in their five matches over the last two days, as they’ve competed very well against high standard opposition and lost many matches by the finest of margins. They move on to the singles and doubles competitions for the remainder of the week.
In the Cycling, they had no competitions today, but were given some welcome news as appeals by a number of teams following Sunday’s Women’s Team Criterium meant the Ynys Mon Women’s squad were bumped up from a seventh-placed finish to a fourth-placed one, just shy of Guernsey in third, which is a very strong result. The Women’s individual results were also amended to see the team move up as a whole in the standings, with Sally Rigg officially finishing 19th (previously ranked 20th), Tamara Walton-Evans 20th (19th), Ceri Jones 21st (23rd) and Annie Glover 22nd (24th). The Men’s and Women’s squads move on to the Time Trial events on Tuesday.
It was a great day in the Sailing event for Dominic Breen-Turner as his first and fourth-placed finishes in Races Three and Four of the Laser Standard Rig event pulled him up to fourth overall in the standings with more races to come over the coming days and further opportunities for Breen-Turner to improve his position in the standings.
The Shooting squads secured respectable 11th and 12th placed finishes in the Olympic Trap Team and Automatic Ball Trap Team Events and look forward to the Olympic Skeet Individual matches taking place tomorrow.
The first day of competition for Ynys Mon’s swimming squads was very eventful, as both Eve Goddard-Smith in the 100m Women’s Butterfly Event and the Men’s 4x50m Medley team qualified for their respective finals. The Men’s finished eighth in the final, but benefitted massively from the experience of competing in front of a capacity crowd at the stunning Lathbury Sports Complex pool and were delighted to reach the final.
Goddard-Smith finished sixth in the Women’s 100m Butterfly Final, but was only a few tenths off a bronze medal in another very close final. Hollie Tomblin also secured a highlight at the Games as she smashed her personal best in the 100m Butterfly Heats, but it wasn’t quite enough to secure a place in the Final. Emily Williams, Lauren Jones, Jessica Parry, Michael Leonard and Jac Jones-Hughes also competed very well in their individual events. The swimming squads have a number of events to follow over the coming days.
The Ten-Pin Bowling squads had another beneficial experience over at King Bastion Leisure Centre as Men’s, Women’s and Doubles matches were completed. The Ynys Mon sides didn’t trouble the front-runners, but it was another great experience for their players in their first competitive action and will look forward to continuing their development throughout the week.
There was a first win for Ynys Mon in the Tennis event as Sion Myers won 2-0 against Isle of Man (6-2, 6-1) in the Men’s Singles Round of 32. David Parry, the fifth seed, faces James Finnigan of Bermuda at 9:30 UK Time in his Round of 32 fixture tomorrow, with doubles fixtures to come later in the week.
For a full list of results and times, head over to www.gibraltar2019results.com, where you can find records, schedules, fact-files and all sorts of information about the various events and get all the latest official results as they come in.
Ynys Môn Island Games Association 