Felix and Andrea take home five medals apiece after outstanding swims in Bermuda

Neil Riddell July 19, 2013 0

Doing Shetland proud: Andrea Strachan now has two golds and three silver medals in Bermuda. Photo: Andrew Inkster

Team Shetland’s serial medal-winning swimming pair Andrea Strachan and Felix Gifford were at it again on Thursday night – each claiming a silver to add to their bulging collections.

Andrea claimed silver in the women’s 100m individual medley. She finished the race in a time of 1:04.19, behind Gotland’s Ida Sandin. She will fly home from Bermuda this weekend carrying two gold and three silver medals after an outstanding week at the 2013 Natwest Island Games.

Meanwhile Felix took silver in the men’s 400m freestyle, ensuring he will bring five medals home with him too – two gold, two silver and a bronze. He narrowly missed out on the third gold medal he had been hoping for, finishing in a time of 3:57.15 – quarter of a second behind the Cayman Islands’ Geoffrey Butler.

His teammate Donnie Price swam very well too, finishing fourth in 4:05.94, only two-and-a-half seconds behind bronze medallist Cameron Donaldson of Jersey.

Amy Harper was again unlucky not to find herself in the medals. Fourth place in the 100m freestyle saw her 0.35 of a second behind Guernsey’s Courtney Butcher, while her 50m backstroke time of 30.52 seconds was again only a third of a second off a bronze, won by Bermuda’s Ashley Yearwood.

Felix Gifford produced a succession of excellent swims to win five medals. Photo: Andrew Inkster

Swimmers Andrea and Felix have now accounted for 10 of Team Shetland’s 15 medals at the games. That tally matches a much larger squad’s haul in the Isle of Wight two years ago.

On the athletics track, there was a very good run from Shetlander Haydn Thomason. He finished fifth in the 400m final with a time of 50.49 seconds. That left him 1.28 seconds shy of a place on the podium, but represents an excellent achievement nonetheless.

The best remaining chance of further success is likely to come in tonight’s women’s 800m.

Emma Leask celebrating her 400m silver with athletics team manager Karen Woods. Photo: Andrew Inkster

Athlete Emma Leask won Heat 2 comfortably yesterday in a time of 2:16.97. Four runners in Heat 1 clocked a faster time, but Emma is the event’s island games record holder having won in 2:11.72 two years ago.

Her final is due to start at 6pm Bermudan time – 10pm in the UK.

* See today’s Shetland Times for coverage and photos documenting our athletes’ fortunes earlier in the week.