Jack Fagan wins Welsh International Speed Shear open final

Jack Fagan, (second from left) won the open at the Welsh International Speed Shear. Photo / The Welsh International Speed Shear Facebook page

Kiwi shearer Jack Fagan has once again taken out the Welsh International Speed Shear open final over the weekend.

It was down to the wire for Fagan whose final time was 16.3 seconds, after a thrilling finish against second-place getter, Australia's Jovan Taiki, with 16.6 seconds.
Meirion Evans of Wales came in third.

The atmosphere at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells was "electrifying" Fagan told The Country's Jamie Mackay.

"Honestly, you could cut the air with a knife. There'd be close to 500 people crammed into a small market – where they sell the sheep and cattle every Wednesday and Friday – and they just fill it up with pissed hooligans and have a speed shear in the middle of the ring and it's just unbelievable."

The open started with 50 competitors who were whittled down to a top six, and then a final three, Fagan said.

His times were 17.5 seconds in the heats, 17.2 in the semi, and then 16.3 in the final, he said.

The close finish against Taiki sent the crowd wild, as the Australian shore his 16.6 timing, second to last before Fagan, he said.

"I happened to go 16.3 and the entire stadium just erupted."

Fagan said he shore "tiny little" Welsh Beulah Speckled-Face lambs and he reckoned the world record for the event "floats around the 14-second mark".

It was a sweltering 30 degrees plus in Wales on Sunday night when Fagan spoke to Mackay and he said the temperature was expected to rise even higher the following week.

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The heat wouldn't deter attendees at the Royal Welsh Show, which had been cancelled for the past two years due to the pandemic.

"It's 40-odd degrees I think it's going to be later on in the week and the Welsh are ready for a hell of a good show – the first one since 2019."