2026 Commonwealth Games
Men’s 200 Breast – Finals
Top 8:
- Filip Nowacki (Jersey) – 2:07.87
- Oliver Dawson (Canada) – 2:08.39
- Zac Stubblety-Cook (Australia) – 2:08.91
- Gregory Butler (England) – 2:09.81
- Bailey Lello (Australia) – 2:10.90
- Joshua Mitchell (Scotland) – 2:12.87
- George Smith (Scotland) – 2:14.05
- Jacob Story (Cook Islands) – 2:14.48
Filip Nowacki made history for Jersey tonight, winning the first Commonwealth Games medal in swimming in its history and just its second ever. The Channel Island, a holdover from the Duchy of Normandy which belonged to England from 1066 to 1204, had gone 36 years since its last medals at the 1990 Games before this week.
He led from the get-go tonight, hitting the first turn in 28.94 and turning in 1:01.44 at halfway. He led Canadian Oliver Dawson by seven tenths of a second with 50 meters to go, and held on down the final length to win gold by half a second in 2:07.87.
Jersey is now the smallest nation or Crown Dependency to win a gold medal in swimming at the Commonwealth Games. Thanks to Nowacki, they now rank joint-9th with Papua New Guinea in the all-time pool swimming medal table with one gold and one silver.
Before the start of the 2026 Games Jersey had won a total of four medals: one gold, from shooter Colin Mallet in 1990, and three bronzes, one in shooting – from Mallet and his father cliff in the team event – and two in boxing from John Sillitoe in 1986 and Albert Turmel in 1962.
The total now stands at six after Nowacki’s pair of medals this week, winning Jersey’s first-ever silver medal as he placed 2nd in the 100 breast, and their first gold in the pool in the 200 breast tonight.
He is Jersey’s most successful athlete, owning the same number of medals as Mallet, but having one gold and one silver compared to Mallet’s one gold and one bronze. He is the first Jersey-born swimmer to win a medal for Jersey in the pool – Simon Militis, who also swam at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, won bronze in the 200 back in 2002 but was representing England.
Serena Guthrie, the England netball captain as they beat Australia 52-51 in 2018, was the last Jersey native to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Nowacki moves up two spots in the world rankings for this season, and will head into the European Championships as the fastest European man this season.
| 2 | Qin Haiyang |
CHN | 2:07.69 | 11/15 |
| 3 | Kirill Prigoda |
RUS | 2:08.30 | 06/09 |
| 4 | Caspar CORBEAU |
NED | 2:08.50 | 05/30 |
| 5 | Filip NOWACKI |
GBR | 2:08.52 | 04/19 |
His time tonight was half a second short of his lifetime best of 2:07.32 that he swam last summer. He won gold at the European Junior Championships (2:08.32) and the World Junior Championships (2:07.32) in 2025, and has kept his podium-topping streak going here in Glasgow.
Split Comparison
| Split | 2026 Aquatics GB Championships | 2025 European Junior Championships | 2026 Commonwealth Games – 2:07.87 | 2025 World Junior Championships (Jersey Record) – 2:07.32 |
| 50 | 29.18 | 29.08 | 28.94 | 29.03 |
| 100 | 1:01.54 (32.46) | 1:01.49 (32.41) | 1:01.44 (32.50) | 1:01.22 (32.19) |
| 150 | 1:35.01 (33.47) | 1:34.75 (33.26) | 1:34.31 (32.87) | 1:34.11 (32.89) |
| 200 | 2:08.52 (33.51) | 2:08.32 (33.57) | 2:07.87 (33.56) | 2:07.32 (33.21) |
Nowacki has been the top British performer in the 100 breast and 200 breast this week, winning silver in the former behind Australian Sam Williamson and gold in the latter. He also placed 5th in the 50 breast in 27.20, a tenth of a second off his best.
Helping to hand out the 200 breast medals tonight was the winner of this event the last time the Games were held in Glasgow. Ross Murdoch set a new British and Games record of 2:07.30 to beat fellow Scot Michael Jamieson at a home Games, and went on to win silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022.
Nowacki’s win tonight made it winners from four different nations at the last four Commonwealth Games in the men’s 200 breast. Murdoch won in 2014, England’s James Wilby won in 2018, Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook won in 2022, and now Jersey’s Filip Nowacki has now won in 2026.
Talking to TNT after the medal ceremony, he talked about the belief and conviction he has built up, saying, “I’ve done a lot of work around the sports psychology in and around the pool in the arena, out of the arena. I’m very happy to have kept myself composed, calm, and confident, and manage to get my hand on the wall first.”.
He also told reporters after the medal ceremony, somewhat ironically given that he is still just 18 years old, that he hoped he could “inspire the younger generation”. Inspiration, as you can see below, certainly seems to be something he delivers.