Elodie Riley went in Sunday morning’s 800m freestyle and, like the earlier 1,500m, ended up snatching a gala record from elder sister Delphine.
Elodie swam 9min. 20.03sec. at St Sampson’s High, cutting 2.20sec. from a record her sister set in September 2024.
This race had in fact been a head-to-head between the two, where the younger sibling gradually pulled away throughout the race as Delphine finished a good second in 9-29.78.
In a very different discipline, the 50m butterfly, Guernsey Swimming Club’s own Ronny Hallett followed up his promising performances over the breaststroke events after injury.
He edged down his outright personal best with 25.54, which also took him under celebrated Island Games swimmer Tom Hollingsworth’s gala mark of 25.86 from six years ago.
A great race for second place had 15-year-old Henry Bolton posting 27.55 to edge out pool veteran Conor Osborough and fellow up-and-coming swimmer Spike Jinks.
The final senior record came in the concluding 50m freestyle.
Barracudas’ Tatiana Tostevin powered home in 26.88, going under the record set by GSC revelation Chloe Bown at the 2024 championships.
GSC teenager Emma Bourgaize’s 27.03 for runner-up also ducked under the record – which was 27.05 – with Barracudas’ Molly Staples a good third in 27.62.
The men’s equivalent had the younger Hallett brother storming home in 23.61, with closest rival Bolton posting a PB of 24.18 to help keep him on his toes.
Jinks edged third in 25.72 but was swum incredibly close by GSC’s emerging Corey de Jersey – who is in the 13-14 age group but had often been playing second fiddle to record-smashing Zach Maiden.
Tostevin had a near-miss with a record in the 50m butterfly, where she swam 28.80, while the same was true of Oriana Wheeler as she threatened Helen Watts’ 100m breaststroke mark from the turn of the century.
Barracudas make up the majority of the Glasgow 2026 squad in the pool and many of their top competitors had just returned from an intensive training camp in Majorca, leaving head coach and Commonwealths swim team manager Sara Parfit noting they could have gone in quite tired.
‘This weekend they’ve produced the goods with lots of large PBs for some of them,’ she said.
She also welcomed the presence of GSC’s Hallett and Bourgaize as the squad made the most of the pre-Games racing opportunity.
‘This will be their last race practice,’ she added.
The age groups tended to feature strong competition and regular exchanges of winners throughout the three days.
However, Commonwealths pick Maiden proved a leading light of the gala in winning all 11 of his events in the 13-14 boys’ category.
GSC’s Poppy Sargent also had a particularly successful weekend, which ended with her having won all eight of her events in the packed 9-10 girls group.
