JEREMY OSBORNE is ranked top in two events but Guernsey will struggle to match the highs of Shetland in the pool. The 17-year-old has the fastest seed time of the 31 entrants in the 100m freestyle and is joint top of the seeding in the 100m individual medley along with teammate Ben Lowndes.
‘On looking at the programme, the competition is stronger than we anticipated,’ said team manager Alison Frankland.
‘Normally we would get a programme weeks in advance, but we have only just received this one and it is tough competition.
‘We have got chances for gold with Jeremy and Ben and I hope both are successful, but what colour medals we are going to win we are not sure.’
Frankland emphasized that the seed times can be misleading.
She entered the Guernsey swimmersﾂ season best times but believes some other teams have put down lifetime bests and those swimmers might not be in the form to reproduce those standards.
However, she is taking nothing for granted and she pointed out some dangerous swimmers from other islands to watch out for.
‘Ida Sandin from Gotland has a best time well within the 400m individual medley Island Games record while Heather Roffey ranked first in several events and she was Gail Strobridges nearest rival when we held the Games in 2003, but she did not go to Shetland.
‘Jersey are looking strong again while the Faroes have got quite a strong team judging by the rankings, as do Gotland.’
Signs are that while it might be optimistic for the Sarnians to hope to repeat the success of two years ago, potentially it will be another fruitful Games for them.
‘Other than Jeremy and Ben ranking first, we have certainly got swimmers ranked in final positions and I hope we have the strength in depth to take medals in the relays, it would be great to strike gold in the relays and we certainly have four strong freestyle swimmers, which bodes well,’ Frankland said.
‘This event is going to be the survival of the fittest. The relay [line-ups] we will decide once the competition is under way and we will see how the swimmers are performing.’
Article posted on 29th June, 2007 - 12.00am
Loading ...
Most Commented: