Swimmer Strachan wins bronze in women’s 50m breaststroke

From Neil Riddell in Åland

Shetland’s second bronze medal on Monday arrived thanks to swimmer Andrea Strachan, who finished third in the 50m breaststroke, adding to the medal won by the isles’ shooters in the team skeet event earlier in the day.

Strachan had been lying first following the morning heats and had been hoping to repeat her gold success of two years ago, but her time of 34.90 seconds was 0.08 of a second slower than Sara Oksman from the host island Åland and almost half a second behind Faroese swimmer Katarina Lamhauge.

Because of the calibre of her opponents and how close the race was, she said she was satisfied to have got a medal of any hue. “I was happy with it, because it was really close,” she said. “It’s just good to get a medal. It’s good having support there [several members of her family have travelled to Åland to cheer the 16-year-old on].”

Later in the week, she swims in the 100m breaststroke and the 100m individual medley – and is lying in a medal position in the latter. She said: “I’ve got a few more races that I’ve got a chance in, but whether I do it on the day I don’t know.”

Strachan, along with Amy Harper (who finished seventh in the 200m freestyle race), Nicole Petursdottir and Jessika Swanson, came eighth in the women’s 50m relay event and Tom Raikes came eighth in the men’s 200m butterfly.

Elsewhere on Monday, a superb performance from archer Billy Finnie in the men’s compound event has left him in pole position going into the final rounds. He shot a games record, hitting the gold target 19 times and recording scores of 319 at the 90m distance and 338 at 70m, leaving him 13 points clear of nearest challenger Jogvan Niclasen from the Faroe Islands.

In the corresponding women’s event, Sara Leith performed almost as well, shooting a score of 317 at 70m and 313 at 60m to leave her sitting in second place, 15 points behind the Isle of Man’s Sarah Rigby and one point ahead of Faroe’s Sigrid Kristianna Vang with the 50m and 30m distances to come on Tuesday morning.

There was disappointment in the athletics, however, for Michelle Sandison, who finished 10th in the women’s 10,000m race in a time of 44.29.92.