It was a record-breaking weekend for Maltese swimmers who travelled abroad last weekend to compete at the Slovakia Grand Prix.

Not one, not two, but three national records were broken over the three days of the annual competition, this time held in a closed bubble in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Making the nation of Malta proud once more was 15-year-old Sasha Gatt who set the national and age group record in the 800 and 1,500-metre freestyle with an impressive time of 16:53:34  in the latter. Gatt improved from her own previous record set just last December by a hefty margin of seven seconds.

She finished second in her heat and won the silver medal.

Thomas Wareing also etched his name into the national record books with a time of 4:37:71 in the individual medley, besting a record he set himself back in August 2020. 

Other notable performances over the Slovakia Grand Prix weekend came from Maya Galea, who established a new Age Group D record in the 200-metre race and Michela Portelli who established an Age Group C record with a time of 1:06:84 in the 100-metre butterfly. In doing so, Portelli broke an eight-year record last set in April 2013. 

Malta’s swimmers will next compete at the Turkish Turkcell LCM Youth Open Age Nationals later on this month.

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