Nowacki Nails Historic Gold For Jersey On Senior Debut
"That's lovely history. It's very special to me, and that's going to be special to me for the rest of my career, and definitely for the rest of my life." - Filip Nowacki, 18
Filip Nowacki leapt on the lane rope and sent a great arc of water flying over what will forever be the hallowed waters of Tollcross International: he'd just delivered the first swimming gold for Jersey in the history of Commonwealth and Empire Games since it all began in 1930.
In a stacked 200m breaststroke final, the 18-year-old World and European junior champion of 2025 handled with aplomb the weight of expectation from his home Island and the bigger neighbour (mainland GBR) he will race for at European Championships next month in Paris.
Nowacki set the pace from go to gold in 2:07.87 ahead of British-born Canadian Oliver Dawson - whose 2:08.39 broke the Canadian record set by Mike Brown almost 18 years ago at 2:08.84 on the way to the Olympic final at Beijing 2008.
The bronze went to late-challenger Australia's Tokyo 2021 Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook in 2:08.91.
Triumph marked Nowacki's second honour for Jersey in Glasgow: on Saturday night, he took silver in the 100m ahead of his Great Britain teammate and twice Olympic champion in the event, Adam Ramsay-Peaty.
In the 200m this evening, as heavy rain on the roof added to a cacophony of cheers for every Scot and visitor in the lively Tollcross arena, Ross Murdoch's 2:07.30 British and Games record from a home Glasgow Games in 2014 lived to fight another day.
That marked the latest in a series of pioneering achievements in Nowacki's growing trophy cabinet. The 100m silver was the first medal for Jersey at the Commonwealth Games for 36 years, since shooter Colin Mallett won the Open Full Bore Rifle Queen's Prize at Auckland 1990. Said Nowacki:
"That's lovely history. It's very special to me, and that's going to be special to me for the rest of my career, and definitely for the rest of my life. And you know, the atmosphere in there is just top at the top. A massive thank you to everyone that's come out and supported me through this."
"It's completely surreal. Coming from an island like Jersey and competing against the Aussies, Canada, England, you know, all the home nations is very special, and, you know, to get my hand on the wall there first in, in such an incredible time, you know, reconsolidating that 2:07 I went last year is very special. It shows that I'm moving in the right direction.
"I think that that jump between junior and senior is very big and it's quite often overlooked. Junior men don't really make a proper impact on the senior stage till they're in their early 20s, mid-20s. I was very fortunate in the fact that I almost made that jump whilst I was still a junior last year. So just very happy to have consolidated it in my first year as a senior."
