Isle of Man's Island Games medal tally rises to 45
Medals were also secured in archery, cycling, badminton and athletics, bringing the total medal haul to 45 and putting the Manx team in fourth position overall.
The island's swimmers added to their collection by clinching first place in the 4x50m mixed medley relay, narrowly beating the Faroe Islands into second place.
Meanwhile, Christa Cain secured her second gold in two events at the games by fending off Orkney's Anna Tait to top the podium in the 5,000m event in Kirkwall.
Cain said she "ran hard" when she secured the top spot in the 10,000m on Sunday, and "wasn't planning on running such a hard race again".
But, after hearing the "roar of the home crowd for Anna", she decided to use it as "ammunition.
"Luckily I had a bit of speed up my sleeve to push on through," she added.
Crossing the finish line in 16 minutes and 43 seconds, the runner said her results so far had been "absolutely crazy, I can't believe it".
Following her success on the track, the Manx athlete said she was "excited" to pull on her road shoes for Friday's half-marathon in Stromness - an event that she has more experience in.
She said the "support and the camaraderie" among the squad at her debut games had been "phenomenal".
The "really strong men and women's teams" would be "giving it their best shot" on the final day of the competition, she said.
Adding to the high jump gold he secured at the start of the week, Regan Corrin claimed silver during Wednesday's long jump final.
Recording a distance of 7.29m, he told Manx Radio Sport he was "dead happy" with the result after he had "cramped up" in the second round so had not been sure if he would be able to continue.
The 18-year-old said the atmosphere at the Pickaquoy Centre has been "amazing".
"You can feel the support, the adrenaline it gives you is mental. It gives you an extra gear that you didn't think you had," he said.
In the pool, Manx swimmers were regulars on the podium on Wednesday, with Harry Robinson adding silver in the 100m individual medley and the 50m butterfly to his record-breaking achievements the previous day.
Teammate Joel Watterson finished a whisker behind in the latter contest to take third place, as well as scoring second position in the 100m freestyle.
Laura Kinley took silver in the 100m breaststroke contest, before being joined by Libby Curphey and Watterson and Robinson to make up the triumphant 4x50m mixed medley relay team.
It was three bronze medals in three days for Manx archer Ethan Moore when he took third spot in the men's compound head to head knockout event.
In cycling Tyler Hannay picked up a bronze medal in the individual road race contest, with the men's team also securing third place on the podium.
On the badminton courts in Kirkwall's Pickaquoy Centre, Jessica Li and Alex Buck became singles bronze medallists , taking team Isle of Man's total on the forth day of action to 13.
Thursday's penultimate day of action sees the Manx football teams compete in the semi-finals of the competition, and the golf, swimming and sailing teams will wrap up their campaigns.
Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Record-breaking swimmers add to Manx medal tally
Manx athletes break records at Orkney Island Games
Cain smashes record to win gold at Island Games
'Running for my adopted home at games feels right'
Island Games fever takes hold in transformed Orkney
Manx gymnast to be games' youngest competitor at 13
Dad and daughter 'rooting for each other' at games
Footballers 'determined' to go for gold at games
Team 'ready to make Isle of Man proud' at games
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'I didn't fill it out for ages, which probably shows that I hadn't put myself up there,' Charles says. 'I think I put six (penalty taker) onwards, like I do for Chelsea. I'm comfortable taking one, but if someone who has more experience wants to take one before me, that's fine.' For the past two years, penalties have been part of her post-training regimen: hours spent lining up shots, experimenting with run-ups, with placements, with breathing techniques, asking Chelsea and England team-mate Hannah Hampton how certain penalties might impact a goalkeeper and attempting to outsmart the Women's Super League (WSL) Golden Glove winner despite her knowing 'all of my preferences'. Charles says: 'Coming up against a 'keeper I don't know, with the knowledge that I've beaten a 'keeper who knows me inside and out, is reassuring in a sense!' Still, in the middle of England's huddle at Basel's St Jakob-Park as penalties beckoned, Charles didn't expect her name to come out of England head coach Sarina Wiegman's mouth when the third penalty taker was named. 'It was a surprise,' she says. 'It's very weird, I don't remember the moment I took it. I remember so clearly putting the ball on the spot. Because I put the valve down and was like, 'No, I don't want to kick the valve'. So I moved it. Advertisement 'We'd spoken about it throughout the tournament about making it your time. I kept repeating in my head: 'Just do your job'. Take the emotion away from it. That's where it changes if I was in the first five versus when I wasn't. Against Sweden (in the penalty shootout), I supported the people who were in the first five more, I was more conscious of their feelings. 'When I was in the first five, as well as helping people before me and after me, it was focusing on my job. I was so aware of what I was going to have to do. You have to take the emotion out of it. We spoke about that as a team: make it methodical. Staff go there. Players there. Remove the emotion.' Emotions deployed as tactics is part of Wiegman's genius. Take the Dutch manager's decision to unveil a pink wash-bag bedazzled displaying the words, 'B**ches Get S**t Done' with various objects laden with metaphor on the night before the semi-final against Italy, which England won thanks to two late goals. 'Rumour had it she had it for a long time, but before the semi was the perfect way to get the serious message across while also giving us all a bit of a laugh and release that pressure,' Charles says. 'She doesn't use that language regularly, which is why it had such an impact. She's not saying that word every other sentence.' The scene was an example of Wiegman not wasting words. Charles admires the candour, even if sometimes it does not bear what she wants. Before the tournament, Wiegman held conversations with each player, detailing how she envisaged their role. For Charles, a regular starter for Chelsea, minutes would be limited. 'My mindset was making sure that I was as ready as possible,' Charles says, 'So I was controlling what I could control. I wanted to make sure that I was ready to step up and contribute to the team. That's where our tournament was decided a lot.' Advertisement Charles' moment could not have come at a more crucial juncture. After Hampton saved Mariona Caldentey's effort, England and Spain were level with a penalty each. Had Charles missed, that might have released the pressure on Spain's next taker. Instead, Charles fizzed her shot low and left. Hampton palmed away Aitana Bonmati's effort. Chloe Kelly powered home. Charles could spend hours reflecting on England's shootout, digging through the multitude of individual emotions, a penalty shootout as a Richard Curtis film. There was her aunt and mum in the stands unable to watch; Hampton allegedly throwing Spain goalkeeper Cata Coll's water bottle, swathed in all of England's spot-kick secrets, into the England crowd before the shootout began; how some team-mates worried Charles had bolted to the spot too quickly when she herself felt the walk forward lasted a full tax year; how Keira Walsh met Charles after her penalty with arms outstretched and Charles suddenly remembered how lame her celebration was. 'I started laughing because I just ran back to the halfway line. I always do,' she says. Many days elapsed before Charles could watch the clips back. 'My mum said to me after, once she knew I'd scored, she went back and watched it. 'It was so much nicer when I knew you won'. But it took me a few days. I really try not to watch a lot of stuff. Because in the moment, you're living it, breathing it.' If there is a lesson Charles gleaned in Switzerland and over the past year, it is the value in working hard at working less, in acquiescing to the float. Eleven months ago, Charles suffered a dislocated shoulder in a pre-season match against Feyenoord. Corrective surgery forced her to the sidelines until the end of December. The forced pause, coinciding with a change in manager as Sonia Bompastor replaced Emma Hayes, was agonising. Advertisement 'You can think you're prepared mentally for how it's going to go, but it's a lived experience,' she says. 'If it happened now, I'd be more prepared. But I went into it blind. I wanted to do everything 100 per cent because that's how I am always. From the second I came out of that surgery, it was like, 'OK, when am I getting back?'. Which is a really great quality but sometimes a strength can go too far and I'd be like, 'OK, come on Niamh, take your foot off the gas a little bit'. It'll come, but it won't come tomorrow.' For now, Charles is spending her final days before pre-season with family — even if her childhood home's supply of cerulean floating rivers is lacking. 'Maybe if I had a big pay raise, I could change that,' she laughs. 'The Euros was an unbelievable dream. I've used this break to let that soak in and reflect, then when I head back into pre-season, it'll be a clean slate and really wanting to put my best foot forward.' Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
