Inspirational Malcolm

moment. Because of this I was given the opportunity to participate in the Go4Research program, which has enabled me to do an internship program at the University of Malta and focus on Statics in the Department of Maths and Physics. The best feeling from all this though was proving that athletes can not only focus on their sport, but also on their academics and do well in both.

Right now I have just received my O-Level results. I feel very positive for my academic future as I managed to get very good results notwithstanding the fact that I did not miss a single training session. Now I will be attending Junior College and concentrate on my Alevels, after which I will decide whether to continue my studies in Malta or abroad.

Malcolm, your school embraces the dual career path and you are the perfect example of combining studies with sports. To make it harder, Triathlon is one of the most arduous sports ever. It demands mental and physical strength but time consuming too. You need to master three disciplines: Swimming, cycling and running. How do you classify them according to your abilities? How did you manage all this? Tell us how is it a week in your life as a triathlete and a student? As in everything, there is room for improvement, which areas do you think you need most to better?

Triathlon is in fact a very tough sport. It is an endurance sport in which you have to train three very different disciplines, swimming, cycling and running. A typical race for my age consists of 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km rum and takes roughly over an hour, so besides being physically fit, you have to be mentally strong to keep on going even when you feel that you cannot go on any more. However, having three sports to train means that one can never really get bored doing triathlon.

I roughly train eight sessions per week, sometimes having multiple sessions in one day, with one day being my rest day. Sessions held during the week are roughly between one to two hours depending on the type of session. However weekend sessions usually take up all morning. Assignments and studying will have to fit in between school and training. When I am on a tight schedule and under pressure, I tend to work more efficiently and sometimes even better!

Besides participating in multisport races, I also do single sport races. These help me gauge my improvement in each sport on its own. I do believe that running is my forte. In my last 5k road race I have managed to clock 17:12, achieving a 10th overall place among some of the best runners on the island. I was the youngest competitor and ran with athletes from all ages. This is an achievement considering that I only practice running two times a week.

I think that out of all three, swimming requires the most sacrifice from my part. It is not because of the sport itself, but because I love to sleep in late whenever I can and love to drag every minute that I can before I get out of bed. Unfortunately, for swimming I have to wake up at 5am in the morning in order to do my training session before school. In winter, the weather also plays its part.

Cycling was until recently my weakest sport in triathlon. In order to improve it, I started to take part in the cycling championship. This has helped me improve much and progress further in the sport.

Even though I am doing very well in triathlon, I must admit that there is a lot of room for improvement in all three disciplines. I always try to listen to my coaches and people who really mean well. As one of the youngest on the triathlon scene, besides having to improve in the three disciplines, I am still quite inexperienced when it comes to the more difficult races. There are race tactics that you have to try and see what works out best for you. I really appreciate the fact that there is always someone who is ready to give a tip or a word of advice. It is not the first time that other coaches or other more experienced athletes share their experience or point of view about their race and mine, and this I truly appreciate.

You are a MOC Elite Athlete, you are highly considered by both the Malta Triathlon Federation and the Cycling Federation where they sent you twice and once respectively on training camps abroad. Having MOC and two federations behind you at the age of 15 is already a massive feat by itself. This year, notwithstanding that you had the O level exams, you competed in The Eurosport National Duathlon Championship 2018. You won 1st place U20 and 4th Overall. I think this is the best achievement so far but which speaks volumes. Apart from this, I can add the endorsements underneath by the Head of School and the Coach where they trust you blindly. How do you explain such blind trust in your favour from so many entities and persons where in today s life, trust has become something rare?

I must admit that I feel honoured with the trust so many people have in me. However, for each second of improvement in my time, there is a team of people behind me. I do not consider my