‘The Future Never Looked So Bright!’: Maltese Athletes Smash National Records At Final Meet Of 2020 Season
A number of national records fell over the weekend as athletes gathered for the final meet of the 2020 season.
It was no easy feat competing in the sweltering summer heat but Maltese athletes put on an impressive display of talent over the two-day national championships at Matthew Micallef St. John athletics stadium.
One of the most remarkable performances came from 400m runner Janet Richards who managed to break a 17-year-old record set by Tania Blake with an impressive and emotional 54.06s finish. Richards also went on to win gold in the 200m.
Paralympic prodigy Antonio Flores continues to dominate in his field with another two national records in the T64 100m (12.70s) and 200m (25.40s). Flores was just 0.28 of a second away from qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics next year.
Daniel Saliba continues to best himself, this time breaking his third national record with a time of 15.3s in the high hurdles.
Other notable performances come from Jacob Elaida Chaffey who achieved a prolific sprint double in the 100m (10.74s) and 200m (22.15s) and Carla Scicluna who outplayed her senior sprinters for the win in the 100m race.
Championship records were achieved by Luca Martini in the hammer throw, the 4×100 men rush AC relay team and the 4×100 women Pembroke Athleta relay team.
“The future of athletics never looked so bright! Besides the overwhelming amount of positive results, I am proud to say we were able to turn a negative situation (no spectators) into a positive one by live streaming our event,” said Malta Amateur Athletic Association president Andy Grech.
“This brought together running enthusiasts from all over the world with our event being closely followed by a little over 5,000 online viewers over the weekend. This collective positive energy brought the best out of athletes, who never seemed as though they had the toughest year (mentally and physically) to date,” he said.