Maltese Athletes Storm Through Second-Place Overall In ‘Dream Performance’ During Small States Championships
Malta stormed through some serious results, reeling in three golds at the Championship for the Small States in athletics events played on home soil.
The golds came from Janet Richard, Claire Azzopardi, and the women’s quartet, who blitzed through the 400m race, long jump, and the Swedish relay race.
The contingent – a blend of youth and experience capped a second-place overall finish out of 17 countries, with a total of 100 points, trailing marginally behind Cyprus, who topped the standings with 117 points.
Richard claimed Malta’s first gold medal of the day in the 400m, clocking a time of 55.12s and fending off the late challenge of Armenia’s Gayane Chiloyan (55.64s).
“I am so ecstatic,” Richard said. “Racing on home soil is just a great experience. Today I wasn’t racing for the time but I was focused on placing and to get Malta’s first gold medal feels amazing.”
In the first heat, Martha Spiteri set a new personal best on her way to victory in a time of 58.29s.
In the long jump event, Azzopardi hit a new personal best of 6.21m while en route to the podium. A sizeable distance away from second-placed Irma Gunnardsottir (Iceland) who jumped a distance of 5.96m.
“After months of hard work, I finally nailed it,” Azzopardi said. “To get the gold medal was a dream come through for me.”
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Malta’s final gold medal of the day came in the women’s Swedish relay when Azzopardi, Carla Scicluna, Charlotte Wingfield, and Richard teamed up to dash home first in 2:10:37.
The men’s quartet, comprised of Steve Camilleri, Beppe Grillo, Matthew Galea Soler, and Ben Micallef missed out on a first-placed spot but settled for a second after clocking a time of 1:55:84 while Moldova took home gold with 1:53:84.
It was Daniel Saliba, though, who brought in the first medal of the day, matching his own national record in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.69s and thus claiming silver.
Without question, Maltese athletes have shown their mettle and the CSSEs, albeit despite the early months of the season. Their eyes now turn to the Mediterranean Games which will be held in Oran at the end of June.
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