Maltese Athletes Share Stage With Olympians At World Athletics Championships
Maltese athletes Carla Scicluna and Jordan Gusman capped a superb showing at the Indoor World Athletics Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on Friday.
The top-tier athletics tournament saw both athletes run alongside some of the toughest in the game. No less than 680 athletes from 137 different countries.
In the event, Scicluna ran the 60m sprint – the fastest event in indoor athletics – placing seventh with a time of 07:71.
Her time was just over the 07:69 she had achieved last March, in Istanbul. On this occasion, the heat was won by British athlete Daryll Neita, a bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympics.
Gusman also placed seventh in his respective heat – the 3000m – with a time of 08:02:13, even after having maintained a place among the first five for the majority of the race.
The event was won by Britain’s Marc Scott, current British champion and European record holder for the indoor 5000m.
He finished just behind Berihu Aregawi, an Ethiopian athlete who just a few weeks ago, was just a few seconds shy of breaking a World Record in Germany.
It was a very creditable result for Gusman who was running his second 3000m race in this indoor season. It was the first time a Maltese athlete reached this level at a World-level athletics event on his own merit.
Over the past couple of years, Gusman had re-written the Maltese record books, shattering the national record on the 1500m, 3000m, and 5000m distances. His most recent achievement was the formidable 07:44:40 time nailed in the 3000m.
That aside, many would remember him for bringing home a double gold for Malta in the 2019 Games of the Small States of Europe, with victories in the 5000m and 10000m.
The Maltese delegation was led by Athletics Malta President Andy Grech, who issued a few comments in the wake of the Maltese athletes’ stellar performance:
“This was a very positive experience for the two athletes who shared the track with some of the biggest names in the sport.”
“The ability to race next to such names and in such a fantastic stadium will certainly spur the two athletes in investing further energies in their athletic careers and will strengthen their efforts to achieve new milestones in athletics.”
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