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Bermuda's golden girls triumph in the pool

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Bermuda's swimming team won gold in the 200 metres medley relay at the Aquatics Centre.

There was a sense of deja vu at the National Aquatics Centre as Bermuda’s women’s relay team clinched a second gold medal at the NatWest Island Games in record time.Bermuda’s team of Ashley Yearwood, Madelyn Moore, Lisa Blackburn and Rebecca Heyliger sent the home crowd into a frenzy after coming from behind to win the women’s 200 metres medley relay final in a new Games and national record time of one minute and 58.16 seconds.That dazzling performance arrived hot on the heels of the team’s gold medal winning display in the women’s 200 metres freestyle relay also achieved in a new Games and national record time (1:46.04) the previous day.“The team is showing what they are capable of now,” said an elated Bermuda coach Richard Godwin. “It’s been some great results and I think there’s some more to come I think they have even more to show over the next two days.”Bermuda’s gold medal success in the final event of the evening was the perfect way to cap another fruitful session which saw local swimmers claim several individual medals in the pool.Veteran Blackburn won the bronze medal after placing third in the women’s 200 metres breaststroke in a time of 2:36.76. It was the swimmer’s third individual medal and fourth overall at the Games.Rebecca Sharpe and Yearwood claimed the silver and bronze in the women’s 100 metres backstroke final. Sharpe touched the wall in 1:03.57 followed by Yearwood in 1:03.62. Both swimmer’s times were personal bests.Yearwood also won the silver medal in the women’s 50 metres butterfly while the bronze went to teammate Heyliger. Yearwood clocked 28:92 followed by Heyliger who rounded off the podium finishers in 29:20. Both swimmer’s times were personal bests.Stephanie Myles set a new national open record (9:11.56) in the women’s 800 metres freestyle final while teammate Shannon Hassell set a new girls 13-14 national age group record and personal best (9:45.34) in the same event.Jessie Washington set a new 13-14 boys’ national record (1:57.59) in the 200 metres freestyle preliminary heat which wasn’t enough to qualify him for the final.“We’ve had a lot of personal best times and records and the swimmers are performing the way that they have been training,” said national coach Ben Smith. “When you put in that amount of hard work and you produce that’s fulfilling, and that’s what we are seeing here.”Several Games’ records tumbled during the second day of the Island Games swimming competition.Laura Kinley (Isle of Man) set a new record in the women’s 200 metres breaststroke (2:32.60), Charlotte Atkinson (Isle of Man) set a new record in the women’s 50 metres butterfly (27:73) while Emily Bashforth (Jersey) set a new record in the women’s 200 metres freestyle (2:00.14).Cayman Islands’ Shaune Fraser set a new Games’ record in the men’s 50 metres butterfly (51:06), Ida Sandin (Gotland) set a new record in the women’s 200 metres individual medley (2:14.22) while Guernsey set new records in the men’s 200 metres freestyle relay (1:31.54) and men’s 200 metres medley relay (1:42.53) respectively.