Golden girl of Gotland
AMELIA JENNINGS proved she is Anglesey’s golden girl as she claimed Ynys Môn’s only first place at the 17th NatWest Island Games in Gotland.
The 20-year-old from Llangefni scooped gold in the high jump with a leap of 1.70 to edge past nearest challenger Teele Treiel of Saaremaa.
Môn returned home with nine medals in all, six in athletics, two in the swimming and one at gymnastics.
Two competitors claimed a double apiece – swimmer Eve GoddardSmith of Rhosneigr and Llanfairpwll’s Connor Laverty in the discus and shot put.
Eve celebrated the island’s first swimming medal in 12 years when she secured silver in the 100m butterfly in 1:03.60, finishing close to gold winner Jana Bjartalio Thomsen of the Faroe Islands. Thomsen also came first in the 200m butterfly the next day with the Anglesey girl in third.
A delighted Eve, who was Ynys Môn’s flag bearer in the closing ceremony, said: “I’m so happy about winning the medals but I’m a bit disappointed I just missed out on a gold by 0.03 seconds (in the 100m).”
Long-time high-achiever Laverty landed silver in the discus with 45.17 and a shot-put bronze with 12.59.
High jumper Iwan Parry and gymnasts Daniel Chadwick-Jones also took silvers, while discus thrower Brea Leung and hurdler Gethin Hughes collected bronze.
In the football competitions, Angle- sey’s men occupied eighth place overall, while the women were 11th.
Things started so well for the men’s squad, with a 3-0 win over the Falkland Islands thanks to a hat-trick from Holyhead Hotspur’s Kenleigh Owen, who added two more in a 5-1 thrashing of Hitra, Danny Brookwell (2) and Craig Roberts one.
However, things went wrong in the group decider against eventual gold medalists the Isle of Man, Anglesey going down 4-0 with goalkeeper Carl Jones sent off for handling outside his area in the second half.
In the seventh-eighth place playoff, Môn were beaten 2-0 by Aland, who notched two late goals.
The Welsh side had keeper Paul Pritchard and Kenleigh Owen redcarded in a game where Môn did not
get the rub of the green with refereeing decisions. In their group, the ladies lost 3-0 to Isle of Man, 4-1 against Aland, Charlotte Gill netting a penalty, and 4-1 to Western Isles, Phillippa Jones on the mark. Ynys Môn medal winners Gold Amelia Jennings (high jump) 1.70 Silver
Connor Laverty (discus) 45.17; Iwan Parry (high jump) 1.98; Eve GoddardSmith (100m butterfly) 1:03.60; Daniel Anthony Chadwick-Jones (gymnastics - men’s SET individual floor). Bronze
Connor Laverty (shot put) 12.59; Brea Leung (discus) 33.21; Gethin Hughes (110m hurdles) 16.53; Eve Goddard-Smith (200m butterfly) 2:23.42.