Bermuda's young gymnasts rewrote Island Games history last night with one of the most dominating single sport performances since the festival began 24 years ago.

Led by Kaisey Griffith, who was crowned overall champion in the FIG Individual event and helped herself to four gold medals, the team made an almost clean sweep, collecting 14 medals in all ¿ four gold, three silver and seven bronze.

And with the Individual Set competition still to come tomorrow, the teenagers could add a bunch more to their medal haul.

Twenty-one gymnasts from six teams contested last night's event and while Bermuda's girls were outstanding in every discipline ¿ the asymmetric bars, the beam, the vault and the floor - coach Tina Williams said there was still room for improvement.

"Obviously, it was a fantastic night," she said. "The competition was good and we were pleased with the way we performed, but having said that we were a little bit disappointed with beam as we had a few falls and a few connections we didn't make.

"We're pleased with what we did on floor, and all of our gymnasts had no falls and made no mistakes on vault. Everyone's really happy."

While Griffith undoubtedly stole the show, the other members of the team made huge contributions, Caitlyn Mello collecting one silver and four bronze, Hannah King earning two silvers and Morgan Beckles emerging with three bronze.

The only Bermudian to miss out on a medal was Riann Ming who still placed sixth overall.

Griffith excelled in every discipline but one, bouncing back magnificently after she slipped and fell while on the bars at the beginning of the evening.

During the floor excercises, she drew huge applause from a packed gallery, scoring 13.1 points, by far the best in the competition. She was almost flawless on the beam (11.6 points) and on the vault (13.975).

When the overall points were tallied, a total of 48.2 left her on top of the ladder. Mello was second overall with 46.1 and Beckles made it a medal sweep for Bermuda with 44.05.

On the vault, Griffith led the way while King took silver (13.475) and Mello the bronze (13.425). Beckles was fourth (13.2).

On the floor, Beckles and Mello were both handed bronze medals after posting identical scores of 11.9 and it was the same on the asymmetric bars where they scored 9.9. King took the silver with 10.15 in the only discipline in which Bermuda didn't take gold.

Mello's other bronze came in the beam, which again was won by Griffith.

As for the chance to add to their tally tomorrow, Williams said: "The girls are really excited as we go back to set routines, so it's easy skills but what it means is that all of the islands are on the same par.

"We're going to have a day off tomorrow (today), and have a rest which is what the girls really need at the moment. Hopefully on Friday we'll come out and do it all again.

"This is a very valuable competition for us. The girls really work hard as a team and it actually brings them together. The medals have been mixed around today which is great."

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Island Games wrap-up

Swimming

Bermuda’s swimmers reached five finals last night and capped the evening with a superb performance in the last event on the programme.The girls 4x100 metres freestyle team taking a bronze medal with a time more than seven seconds faster than that which they recorded in the morning heat.Rebecca Heyliger, Morgan Hopkins and the Yearwood sisters, Nicole and Ashley, placed third behind gold medallists Jersey and second-placed Isle of Man, in 4:01.39. A few hours earlier the same girls had clocked 4:08.51 as the fifth fastest qualifiers.Nathan Frick made it into two finals, finishing eighth in the 100 metres freestyle in 54.96 and seventh in the 50m butterfly in 27.45.Ashley Yearwood and Heyliger both advanced to the women’s 50m freestyle final, Yearwood placing fifth in 27.57 and Heyliger eighth in 27.81.In the 400m freestyle final, Nicole Yearwood finished seventh in 4:37.16, five seconds faster than her morning heat time.And Hopkins took eighth place in the final of the 100metres breaststroke in 1:19.72, again improving on her heat time.

Athletics

Sprinters Xavier James and Jeneko Lottimore Place both put themselves in medal contention as they cruised to victory in yesterday’s 100 metres morning heats.Easing up at the finish, James won the first heat in 11.13 seconds and Place seemingly didn’t stretch himself as he too claimed victory in a more competitive heat two, although there was little to separate three runners as they crossed the line together.Place was the fastest in 11.38.The Bermuda pair have been drawn apart in today’s mid-day semi-finals, James in lane three in the first and Place in lane two in the second.Also in action today will be Ashley Robinson and Stephane Schoeman in the 800 metres heats while Daniel Tucker has been listed for tomorrow’s triple jump after struggling to compete in the long jump on Tuesday.

Shooting

Anthony Evans again found himself without a partner in yesterday’s 50 metres Prone Smallbore Rifle event after fellow Bermudian Ross Roberts chose not to compete. Although listed among the entries and is here in Aland, it’s understood Roberts had never intended to take part in the shooting competition.Evans compiled 561 points in yesterday’s event, placing ninth out of 10, with the eight above him combining two scores for much higher totals.

Basketball

Bermuda’s men’s team, among the gold medal favourites, can take another stop towards earning a place on the podium today as they enter the play-offs against a team which was still to be decided after last night’s matches.The men crushed Jersey 100-33 in their last match and before that rolled over Cayman Islands 82-71.Another win today would guarantee a place in Saturday’s final to decide gold and silver.

Archery

Bermuda’s sole male competitor, Paul Harshaw, enjoyed some success on the third day of the event when he defeated Jersey’s Bjarne Jacobsen 66 points to 39 in the opening round of the Recarve Head to Head Knockout. But in the second round he came up against Bjorja Gonalons from Menorca and went down 87 to 105.The Island’s only female entry, Roslyn Kneeland, was eliminated in the opening round of the Recarve Knockout, beaten by eventual silver medallist Anu Sinikka Vassiladis of Rhodes, 77-30.Final results of the Men’s Singles Recurve saw Harshaw place 34th out of 36 with a total of 588 points. His Knockout opponent, Gonalons, took the gold with 1,177.Kneeland placed 15th out of 16 in the Singles with 689 points. Gold went to the Faroes’ Annika Vang (1,153).

Sailing

Bermuda’s sailors take to the waters off Mariehamn’s Eastern Harbour today, hoping to strengthen their bid for medals with four races remaining in the 10-race regatta.Malcolm Smith, Brett Wright, Sara Adderley and Rockal Evans lead the team event. Bermuda sit on 22 points, six better than second-placed Isle of Wight.Individually, all four are still in the hunt for a place on the podium. Smith and Wright are placed fifth and sixth in the Laser Standard Rig class and Adderley and Evans fourth and seventh in the Laser Radial Rig class. Boardsailor Alex Jones has also impressed this week, presently in fifth place in a fleet of 24.

Volleyball

Bermuda’s women’s team collected their fourth straight win and booked their spot in tomorrow’s semi-finals with a 3-0 drubbing of hosts Aland and play unbeaten Saaremma today to decide the make-up of those semis.Also undefeated so far in the tournament, Bermuda dashed Aland’s hopes of advancing, winning 25-16, 25-20, 25-10.