Hollingsworth has eyes on Olympic 'fly' berth

THIS year Les Quennevais's 25m pool, next year Beijing's 50m one. That's the target for Tom Hollingsworth, the Guernsey men's captain, as the Sarnians made it six Governor's Cup wins in a row in Jersey.

Fourth in the 200m butterfly at this year's national championships, Hollingsworth, 19, is aiming for an Olympic spot in 2008.

He knows it will be a tough task, but he is giving it his best shot from his new base at Norwich University.

'I'm four seconds outside the time and if I got there, it would be amazing,' he said after the win over Jersey and seven months before the Olympic trials.

One of three university students coming back especially for the inter-insular, Hollingsworth did not disappoint his team.

It was always likely to be close and leading up to event 13, the trophy holders enjoyed only a two-point lead.

But the fighting spirit of the Sarnians shone through.

Digging deep, they gradually surged ahead, claiming nine of the 15 new records set in the various age groups, in addition to clinching first place honours in 32 races of the 50-event programme.

The two opening events saw Hollingsworth break Simon Militis's record in the 100 individual medley when he recorded a time of 59.02, while the women's captain, Christine Hume, won the same event in a time of 1-10.43.

Both team captains claimed one more win apiece - Hollingsworth the 100 backstroke and Hume the 100 breaststroke.

Hollingsworth was delighted with his new record.

'I didn't think I was going to swim that fast.

'I'm in pretty heavy training at the moment so I thought my times would be a couple of seconds slower.'

Among the younger swimmers Kristina Neves displayed her full potential in the 11-and-under age group when she broke two of her own records which she set in 2006 - the 50 butterfly and 100 freestyle.

She also clipped four seconds off the 100 backstroke record previously held by Jersey's Grace Le Coulliard when she recorded a time of 1-17.44.

The only record to elude her was the 100 breaststroke which she won with relative ease.

Competing in the boys' equivalent age group, Miles Munro set a new record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 1-06.81 and also won maximum points for his team by winning the 50 butterfly.

Competing in the 16-plus age groups, one of the most outstanding individual swims of the meet came from Robyn Le Friec in the 100 butterfly when she smashed the record previous held by one of Jersey's most outstanding butterfly swimmers, Janine Taylor, which dated back to 1987.

Le Friec's time of 1-05.08 was a lifetime best.

Double wins went to David Hall in the 12/13 age group and to Victoria Parfit and Matthew Butt in the 14/15 section.

There was some fierce and exciting competition in the relays with Guernsey winning nine of the 16 events and setting new records in the boys 16 and over 4 x 50 medley in which they were represented by Alexander Beaton, Ben Lowndes, Hollingsworth and Jeremy Osborne.

The Guernsey boys' 14/15 years 4 x 50 freestyle team of Leo Chamberlain, Stewart Hume, Butt and Joshua Lewis also beat the existing mark.

'Electrifying tension throughout the match is perhaps an understatement,' said Guernsey team manager Alison Frankland.

'But the final result was just ecstasy.'

Final points tally: Guernsey 229, Jersey 191.