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Filip Nowacki secured his status as Jersey’s most successful Commonwealth Games athlete by storming to a historic gold medal in the men’s 200m breaststroke.
The 18-year-old led from start to finish in a commanding display, touching the wall in 2min 07.87sec before erupting in celebration as he climbed on to the lane dividers and slapped the water in delight while soaking up the enthusiastic applause as Jersey flags waved. Canada’s Oliver Dawson won silver, with Australia’s Olympic champion, Zac Stubblety-Cook, taking bronze.
“It’s completely surreal,” said Nowacki. “Coming from an island like Jersey and competing against athletes from Australia, Canada, England and the other home nations is very special. To get my hand on the wall first in such a great time, and to back up the 59.7 I swam last year, is really special.”
Having captured silver in the 100m breaststroke earlier in the Games, Nowacki arrived as the favourite and delivered under the weight of expectation. The teenager took control from the opening 50m, remained in front at halfway and produced a superb pull-out after the turn to extend his advantage.
By the 150m mark, Nowacki had opened up a lead of more than seven-tenths of a second and never looked in danger of surrendering it, powering home to claim Jersey’s first Commonwealth swimming gold.
It was Jersey’s first Commonwealth gold medal in any sport since Colin Mallett won the individual fullbore shooting title in Auckland in 1990 before teaming up with his father, Cliff, to take bronze in the pairs.
Nowacki’s triumph marks another milestone in the remarkable rise of the world junior and British senior champion, who is widely viewed as the heir to the British breaststroke great Adam Ramsay-Peaty, having already finished ahead of the Olympic champion in the 100m breaststroke final in Glasgow. He has made it no secret that he is aiming for a place at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games with Team GB.
“I’ve said before that the water doesn’t care who I am now, if I can’t do it again next year,” he said. “It’s all about continuing to track my progress over the next couple of weeks, then having a good summer break and consolidating everything I’ve been doing. After that, it’s about improving again next year and the year after.”
Scotland produced a dramatic late comeback to claim bronze in the mixed 4x100m medley relay with Duncan Scott delivering a stunning anchor leg in front of a jubilant home crowd. Scott dived into the pool in sixth place but powered through the field with a blistering 48.03sec freestyle split to haul Scotland on to the podium, overtaking Canada in the closing stages.
Australia claimed gold in a record time of 3min 40.46sec. The quartet of Iona Anderson, Sam Williamson, Matthew Temple and Meg Harris secured victory to match Australia’s Commonwealth Games record haul of 28 swimming gold medals.
South Africa took silver after Pieter Coetze laid the foundations with a Games record backstroke leg to give his team an early advantage, although they were unable to hold off Australia over the remaining legs.
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Scotland’s relay featured Katie Ward on backstroke, Kara Hanlon Evans on breaststroke, and Keanna Macinnes on butterfly before Scott’s remarkable freestyle anchor sealed bronze. England, featuring Ramsay-Peaty, finished sixth despite hopes of challenging for gold.
England’s teenage sensation Amalie Smith claimed her second medal of the Games with bronze in the women’s 200m individual medley. The 16-year-old, who won silver in the 400m individual medley on her Games debut on Monday, again impressed against an experienced international field, finishing third behind Australia’s Jenna Forrester and South Africa’s Aimee Canny.
“It’s quite hard to believe I’m here at 16,” Smith said. “If you’d said to me last year I’d come away from the Commonwealth Games with two medals around my neck, I wouldn’t have believed it. I still can’t quite believe it to be honest.”
Smith qualified third fastest for the final, with Forrester the quickest and the favourite for gold. Scotland’s Katie Shanahan delighted the home crowd by leading at the halfway stage after 100m, while Smith remained firmly in contention throughout. The English teenager briefly hit the front during the closing stages before Forrester surged clear to win in 2:09.24, with Canny securing silver.
Smith held on for bronze, adding another podium finish to an outstanding first Commonwealth Games campaign. Shanahan narrowly missed out on a medal in fourth after her fast start, while Wood was unable to challenge for the podium.
