Cook Islands at the double – 30th June
A fantastic start to these Games for the Cook Islands in the pool with Jacob Story and Mia Laban winning two medals each on day one. Jacob, who trains in Auckland with Mount Eden Swim Club, powered to gold in the 200m Breaststroke with a blistering new personal best time of 2:13:71, seeing off the nearest competition by over 5 seconds.
It’s clearly a strong discipline with the swimmer, one which he describes as his ‘favourite event’. Silver was the colour for Jacob in the 100m Individual Medley, just 0.83 seconds shy of back to back gold medals.
Mia found success herself in the 100m Individual Medley. After qualifying 4th in the morning heats with a time of 1:08.04, she improved by over a second to propel herself into the silver medal position with 1:06.88 when it counted in the final. To cap a successful day she also took bronze in the 50m Backstroke. Speaking about representing the Cook Islands after her swim she commented,
‘It’s always nice to wear my country’s flag on my cap.’
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Words & interviews: The Reporters’ Academy. Photos: Ryota Nishida