Cook Islands swimmers continued to create ripples at the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau on Friday (local time), adding more medals, including two gold, to the national team’s tally as the regional event entered day six yesterday.

Seventeen-year-old Jacob Story won his second gold medal in the men’s 200 metres individual medley event on Friday, taking his medal haul to five. He clocked a time of 2:04.08 minutes, finishing over a minute ahead of the second-place finisher.

Story, who had to pull out of a race this week due to illness, made a remarkable recovery to end his Pacific Mini Games campaign on a high.

He earlier won a gold medal in the 200m breaststroke, silver medals in both the 100m individual medley and 400m individual medley and a bronze medal in the 50m breaststroke.

Story’s fine form was complemented by fellow swimmer Mia Laban, who won her first gold medal at the games.

Laban won gold medal in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1:04.14 minutes in a closely contested race. This was also her fifth medal after winning a bronze medal each in the 50m backstroke, 100m butterfly and 200m backstroke. Laban won a silver medal in the 100m individual medley.

On day four on Thursday, Alicia Story joined her brother in the medal-action, qualifying for the women’s 200m butterfly final with a time of 2:37.60.

It was a mammoth swim, 2:29.27, by far a new personal best, and 8 seconds quicker than her morning prelims that secured bronze.

“I touched the wall and I looked over and saw everyone cheering, it was such a magical moment, it's my first time getting a medal and I was just so proud to have achieved this,” Alicia told The Reporters’ Academy.

It was a beautifully emotional moment for 16-year-old Alicia and her brother, Jacob.

“It was so amazing, I finished my race, I looked straight over at him (Jacob) and he was jumping out of his seat, it was so nice. He came right up to me and he had tears streaming down his face and it definitely made me shed a few tears but he was just so proud of me, it was nice to make him and my family proud.”

What is it like competing shoulder to shoulder with a family member on the regional stage?

“It's amazing to have him here because he's been to so many of these competitions and this is my first time. So having him here just really calmed me down a lot. He talks me through a lot of my races and just supports me the whole way,” Alicia said. 

The swimming team contributed to 11 of Team Cook Islands’ 12 medals as of midday yesterday, securing three gold, three silver and five bronze. The 12^th medal, a bronze, came from Piritau Nga in the open men’s long jump, where he recorded a jump of 6.65m to finish third in the event.

Team Cook Islands took part in athletics and beach volleyball events yesterday.