The 16-year-old Calligo Tigers member set a tremendous four new club short-course (25m pool) records in the 100m breast-stroke, 200m breast-stroke, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley . . . but that was not his biggest achievement. That undoubtedly was beating the Island record set by Sydney 2000 Olympian Simon Militis in 2001 for the 200m IM. Not surprisingly, achieving that time of 2 min 8.35 sec was the youngster’s favourite moment of the month.
Thrilled by the achievements of clubmates Harry Shalamon and Gemma Atherley in the pool on the Gold Coast, Jones is mustard-keen to swim in such exalted competitions and has the Birmingham Commonwealth Games of 2022 in his sights.
‘It’s been really good watching them them in Australia and I’d love to emulate them in Birmingham,’ said Jones, adding, ‘and I’d also like to work towards getting in a GB team.’
Jones, who enjoys other sports, is now focusing fully on swimming and his being helped in his endeavours, in addition to coaching at Calligo Tigers, with regular conditioning sessions with the Jersey Sports Foundation at Fort Regent.
Jones will be leaving the Island for a boarding school in Devon in September that will give him greater swimming opportunities as he bids to compete at the highest possible level.
