Record-breaking swimmers add to Manx medal tally at Island Games
The day's action in the pool at Orkney's Pickaquoy Centre saw the swimmers add to Monday's impressive haul of five medals.And the record-breaking swim by the men's team of Zachary Bellhouse, Magnus Kelly, Harry Robinson and Joel Watterson in the freestyle relay marked Robinson's third trip to the top of the podium at the current games.He said while he had previously secured an individual gold, the relay success was "amazing"."We obviously won the gold medal in the medley relay yesterday as well and I did have an individual medal, but it is mainly about the team medals," he said. "It's just amazing to be stood up there with your mates, having just listened to the Manx national anthem and having a good time."After soaking up the atmosphere within the venue, Robinson said it felt "surreal" to be part of it."This is my second international experience and there's always a really good turnout from the Manx fans."And it's just amazing, the noise, the atmosphere was just perfect."
On the track outside at the same venue, there was success for Aimee Christian in the 400m hurdles.In a repeat of her performance from the previous games in 2023, she secured bronze in the contest, finishing behind the competitors from the Faroe Islands and Guernsey with a time of 1:03.89.She told Manx Radio Sport she had put in a "stronger" performance this time round despite the blustery conditions.Christian said: "I'm really happy with it, just the wind took it out of us, but I think we all felt the same and it was a good race between the three of us at the end."She said her training and preparations ahead of the Orkney event had seen things "come together" for her, with her times coming down by seven seconds."Everything just massively helps when it all comes together and I think over the past two years it's really clicked," she added.Christian's success was followed by another bronze on the athletics track for the Isle of Man.Sam Perry put in a time of 3:57.6 in the men's 1,500m to finish third behind Jersey and Guernsey, with Manx team-mate Ryan Corrin in 12th place.
There was also more success for the island's cyclists, who secured the first Manx medal of the day by taking bronze in the men's team criterium.Owen Collins, Mark Horsthuis, Eric Kelly and Ross Thornley took third behind the Channel Islands nations.Speaking to Manx Radio Sport afterwards, Kelly said it was "really tough going"."There wasn't much rest on that course, and in the heat as well it was really tough," he said."There were some really fast riders up the front so it was just try and manage your race and not blow up too early."As a team we rode pretty well, so I'm happy with the performance."
And Ethan Moore and Aalin George took mixed bronze in the archery compound events, slotting in behind the Faroe Islands and Jersey in the final standings.The 2025 Orkney Island Games continue until Friday, with more action involving Manx athletes in archery, athletics, badminton, cycling and golf due to take place on Wednesday.
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.
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Reuters
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Dominant Pogacar not in a giving mood as Tour lead swells
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Telegraph
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Tadej Pogacar crushes rivals in time trial to solidify Tour de France lead
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BBC News
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- BBC News
Tour de France stage 13 - Pogacar stretches lead on time trial
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"The second one was bigger so I knew I was in a good place and I would have a good time trial. "Of course, I was thinking not to blow up in the first part. I almost did in the end but maybe in the last two-three kilometres I took a deep breath, reset a bit and dropped a bit of the power. "I knew that the last kick is super, super steep and I wanted to come to the last part still with somewhat good legs." Update: Date: 16:59 BST Title: Post Content: Tadej Pogacar on his choice of bike: "This was the biggest decision to make, which bike to use. We're racing on road bikes for most of the year, 99% of the time, so in the end we did the calculations. "If you cannot push as much on a TT bike than you can on a road bike, I decided to be more comfortable, the way I was riding the past 12 stages with the same bike. In the end it all worked for me." 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He's the quickest at the second time-check too, 23 seconds quicker than Jonas Vingegaard and 52 quicker than Roglic. Update: Date: 16:19 BST Title: Roglic gains the lead Content: Leading time: Primoz Roglic - 24mins 20secs Luke Plapp is finally tipped out of the hotseat. Primoz Roglic goes 38 seconds quicker for the best time yet. Update: Date: 16:18 BST Title: Get Involved - Is this year's Tour already over? Content: #bbccycling on X, WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply) Agreed, Visma need something special - even in the Giro Yates profited from the leaders marking each other out of the race, but there's no one anywhere near Pogacar so it's hard to see even something like that happening in the tour. Pogacar is just too strong! Lawrence Update: Date: 16:16 BST Title: Post Content: Leading time: Luke Plapp - 24mins 58secs Felix Gall crosses the line and narrowly misses out on the top three so far. Update: Date: 16:13 BST Title: Post Content: Leading time: Luke Plapp - 24mins 58secs Tadej Pogacar has reached the first time-check the quickest today. Remco Evenepoel was five seconds slower, with Jonas Vingegaard a further three seconds back.
