First time in the spotlight

SPECTATORS were treated to some exciting close finishes when 80 swimmers aged between five and nine took part in the Julius Baer Junior Gala. All the programme took part in the main 25-metre pool and unlike other junior galas, there were no small pool events.

In the five-and-under group, some were not only racing in the main pool for the first time, but it was also their first time competing in front of a crowd.

Isabelle Gaudion was a double gold medallist, winning both the 25m backstroke and freestyle events, and for those performances she was presented with the girls' plaque.

Molly Gent claimed silver in the backstroke and bronze in the freestyle while Jessica Lawrence had a strong 25m freestyle race and pushed Gaudion all the way and touched only 0.49sec. behind the winner.

There was also a double gold medal and plaque winner in the equivalent events in the boys' five-and-under group as Matthew Creber placed first in both events.

In the freestyle, silver medal went to Peter Holmes and bronze to Sam Ferry.

Lana Mason and Morgan Ferbrache were the winners of the plaques in the six-and-under categories.

Mason claimed gold medals in the freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke while Ferbrache took gold in the freestyle and backstroke.

Unfortunately, none of the competitors survived the scrutiny of the judges in the boys' six- and0under breaststroke.

Liam Lanyon won two bronzes with Jonty Carnachan claiming silver in the freestyle and Louie Cochrane similar in the backstroke. Ella Veillard won the silver in the girls' backstroke.

In the girls' seven-and-under, Jade Ferbrache completed the triple with golds in the breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle.

A false start in the girls' 25m breaststroke saw three of the youngsters disqualified. Although, that may seem harsh at this level the Guernsey Swimming Club has to run these events under Amateur Swimming Association laws and disqualify for infringements whether they are five or 25 years old.

Ferbrache didn't have things all her own way and was pushed by silver medallist Georgina Tapp in both the backstroke and freestyle. Rebecca Le Huray took bronze in both.

The boys' seven-year-olds saw the largest number of competitors with 14.

Harry Bushby was the plaque winner as he took gold in the freestyle and breaststroke and silver in the backstroke.

Lewis Winberg won gold in the backstroke by only 0.21sec. as less than a second separated the first three with Ben Le Tocq collecting one of his two bronzes.

Shannon Gavey won the plaque for seven-year-old girls.

Stepping up over two lengths of the pool for three of the four events, this age group saw some very close finishes but she emerged victorious in the freestyle, backstroke and butterfly events.

Annabelle Goubert showed great potential and improved stroke technique to win the breaststroke along with backstroke silver and freestyle bronze.

Georgette Fletcher also showed improvement in technique and collected freestyle silver and bronze medals in the other three strokes. The other medallist in this age group was Katie Marquand who won silver in the 25m butterfly.

Callum Penney won the eight-year-old boys' plaque but was pushed all the way by Louis Falla, who won the freestyle by over three seconds.

Penney took gold in the breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly while Falla won silvers in those three events.

Bronze medals went to Daniel Brook (breaststroke) and Brett Hewlett collected two in the freestyle and backstroke.

Courtney Chapman won the nine-year-olds trophy for placing first in three of the four events.

India Lanyon denied her a clean sweep by taking gold in the 50 backstroke and she also collected a bronze in the butterfly.

Chapman and Lanyon along with Leah Winberg, who placed in that order, were involved in the closest finish of the day in the 50 freestyle as less than half- a-second separated the trio.

Winberg won silver in the backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke while Eloise Willis won a bronze in her preferred event of breaststroke.

Alexander Batiste won all four events as only three competed in the nine-year group with George Staples runner-up every time.