ONE of swimming’s magic barriers has been broken. Gail Strobridge has gone under a minute for the 100m freestyle, the first Guernsey woman ever to do so.

The Island Games gold-medallist set a new long-course best of 59.49sec. when placing second at the Southern Counties Championships held at Crystal Palace.

The previous best stood at 1-00.04, set by Cate Jackson in the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, when Strobridge, 18, was not even a water baby.

‘It was a complete shock. I had been away and had not been training. I had only been back in the water for two weeks,’ she said.

‘But I felt like a child again: I was oblivious to all the things that could have gone wrong.

‘A lot of attention recently has been on the 50th anniversary of running the first sub-four minute mile. My mum checked and the first time that anyone had swum below a minute in the 100m in the Olympics was 1964.’

And the Beau Sejour Barracuda did not stop there. She added a further long-course record in the 50m freestyle event, in which she broke her own record of 28.38sec. when setting a new mark of 27.85sec.

Competing in nine events in total, Strobridge reached all nine finals, winning the 18-and-over category 200m breaststroke, 200m and 400m individual medley and 200m and 100m butterfly. She also took silver in her age group in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 200m freestyle.

‘What I really want now is the short-course 100m record. My PB is only 0.02sec. off that time. I’ve swum a 58.73 and the record’s 58.71,’ said Strobridge.

‘I’ve also got my eye on Helen Watts’ short-course 50m freestyle record. That’s 27.41 and I’ve swum 27.45 so I’m close.

‘Before the Island Games I was training 14 hours a week. But since then I have been doing only eight hours a week. Maybe it’s down to ‘quality rather than quantity’ training.’

The record-breaker has also been expanding her repertoire of sporting prowess, turning in a promising performance in the novice triathlon held at Beau Sejour last weekend.

‘I’ve got no idea of my times; I think I was 58th overall but I enjoyed it.

‘I did the triathlon for a bit of fun. Mark Elliott and Tom Hollingsworth convinced me to do it.

‘I hadn’t been on a bike for two years and I don’t even own one; I had to borrow one from Jenny, Mark’s wife.’

A short period of intensive practise paid off.

‘For a couple of weeks I was riding everywhere, or being dropped off at swimming training and then running home,’ said Strobridge.

‘I don’t know if it’s a change in my sporting career, but it’s certainly an addition.’

Strobridge was out of the water and on the bike in just over six minutes.

‘The main advantage in going to triathlon after having been a swimmer is that you tend to come out of the water first and it is harder to catch up than be caught up. You are always trying to stay ahead and not be caught,’ she said.