Luke Holmes: Jersey triathlete wins gold at Commonwealth Youth Games
- Published
Luke Holmes is the first Jersey sportsperson to win Commonwealth Youth Games gold in 19 years
Jersey's Luke Holmes has won triathlon gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago.
Holmes, 16, finished the super sprint race in a time of 29:47, 16 secs ahead of Scotland's Alex Robin and 51 secs in front of Australia's Alex Latham.
It is the first time Jersey have struck gold at the event since 2004 when swimmer Dan Halksworth won the 400m individual medley in Australia.
"Its just amazing that this has happened," Holmes told BBC Sport.
"This was the plan, but plans don't often go to plan so it's amazing that I executed the race and am able to say that I am the Commonwealth Youth champion."
Holmes, who is a student at Hautlieu School in Jersey, helped the island win mixed team triathlon gold at the Island Games last month in Guernsey, and says he could not have had a better race.
"It was pretty much perfect. I was second out of the swim and then we formed a bike group of three.
"I was always up at the front end, I had a quick transition and got into the run first and just didn't look back, I just ran my own pace and hoped no-one would come round me.
"No-one ever passed me on the run and it was a race out front, and that's what I love doing, racing out front."
Siena Stephens came close to adding to Jersey's medal tally
Fellow islander Siena Stephens finished fifth in the women's event.
She was just 10 secs behind Namibia's bronze medallist Naja Brinkmann and 1:19 behind Australia's gold-medal winner Aspen Anderson.
The pair will team up together for the team triathlon on Tuesday as they aim for another medal.
"They've performed well nationally in the relay format, coming second in a recent race there, so I think it bodes well for Tuesday," Jersey triathlon team manager Chris Stephens told BBC Sport from Trinidad.
"I don't want to speak too early and sound overconfident, but if they both execute strategies and execute the process well enough then I think we've got a really good chance."
Swimming bronze for Jersey
Filip Nowacki added Commonwealth Youth bronze to his European Youth Olympics silver medal
Meanwhile there was a bronze medal for Jersey swimmer Filip Nowacki in the 200m breaststroke.
The 15-year-old, who won silver for Great Britain at the European Youth Olympics last month, just missed out on his personal best in a time of 2:16.20.
England's Oscar Bilbao won gold in 2:15.57 while Maxwell Anderson of Wales was second, 0.17 ahead of Nowacki.