The Winberg-Neves show
THE Channel Islands stars of tomorrow had their moment in the limelight at Beau Sejour on Saturday.
THE Channel Islands stars of tomorrow had their moment in the limelight at Beau Sejour on Saturday.
With no teenagers or seniors in sight, the nine to 11-year-olds showed the immense potential that continues to come through the local ranks at the Deloitte Annual Junior Meet hosted by the Guernsey Swimming Club.
Forget the Powells, Strobridges and Lowndes of this world, this was about their successors.
There were some superb performances and a couple of names to watch out for are Luke Winberg and Kristina Neves.
The 11-year-old boy from the Guernsey Swimming Club walked away with four gold medals, one silver and a couple of new records to his name, one of which being the 50m butterfly where he went under the standard set by Ben Lowndes in 1996.
Neves, a nine-year-old Beau Sejour Barracuda, broke five records in the heats before dominating her finals in similar, scintillating form.
David Hall also impressed while that familiar Jersey swimming name of Le Couilliard cropped up once more among the gold medals, this time in the form of 10-year-old Grace.
But, as Barracudas coach Debbie Le Noury acknowledged, all the children on show could be stars of the future depending on their development.
'We have got some very talented kids who are also very dedicated and that has shown in some good results today,' she said.
'This is a good event. For a lot of the kids it is their first inter-club competition and they rise to the occasion.
'Obviously, we have to mention Kristina Neves, who swam excellently, but there are lots of children with potential here and it is still very early days for them.'
Her counterpart at the GSC Jo Winberg, as well as being a very proud mother, was also a very proud coach.
'They all swam PBs and you cannot ask for more than that,' she said of her club's youngsters.
'It is a very good event, although it is a hard day for them. For example, Luke and Aaron Mahieu both swam in five heats this morning, five individual finals this afternoon and then turned out for the relays. That is a lot of swimming.
'But it is looking good for the future. The youngsters are really coming through under Jocelyn Guille, who has got a superb rapport with the kids.
'They really look up to her, listen to her and she has taken them from raw swimmers to where they are now - technically they are looking very good.'
