Siblings form part of three-strong athletics team named by Jersey for the Commonwealth Games

Zane Duquemin leads the Jersey athletics team for this summer’s Commonwealth Games as the thrower has had his places in both the shot and discus confirmed.

The 22-year-old – Britain’s current No.1 in the shot – will be joined on the three-strong team by his sister and fellow thrower Shadine, plus high jumper Simon Phelan.

Zane is one of Jersey’s biggest medal hopes for the Games. He won shot put gold and finished fourth in the discus at the 2012 British Olympic trials before going on to place fourth in the shot at last year s European Under-23 Championships.

He picked up from where he left off in 2014, winning his first senior title with shot victory at the UK Indoor Championships as well as going second on the UK indoor discus all-time list with 59.53m in Sweden, where he also threw 18.86m in the shot to currently sit top of the UK rankings.

The John Hillier-coached athlete recorded his shot personal best of 19.42m in 2013 and his discus best of 63.46m in 2012, but knows it is likely to take much more than that to make it on to the podium in Glasgow.

“I m really looking forward to seeing what I can do this summer. I really think I can produce something quite special,” he told AW back in April.

“20m in the shot and 65m in the discus those are the distance aims for me. They are kind of the world-class barriers I need to break through.

“I don t really know what everyone else is going to do when we get there,” he added on the subject of his competition in Glasgow, with Duquemin having finished 10th in the discus and 12th in the shot at the Delhi Games in 2010 as a 19-year-old. “The standard has jumped up massively in both events over the last four years.

“In Delhi, 19.99m got the bronze in the shot and I think it could take that just to even make top eight at the moment, the way things are looking, so I ve really got to step it up.”

His sister, 19-year-old Shadine, won discus silver at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2011 and more recently won last year’s English Schools and claimed the England under-20 title, while Phelan returns to Commonwealth Games action having competed in Melbourne in 2006.

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