String of top performances by Maltese athletes abroad augurs well for upcoming GSSE
A number of Maltese athletes braved challenging weather con‐ ditions and delivered encourag‐ ing performances beyond our shores throughout the weekend. Running among some top Italian runners at a meeting in Milan, Italy, Simon Spiteri completed the 5k race in 14’31. This timing consolidated Spiteri’s position on the Malta’s 5000m team at the GSSE alongside Jordan Gus‐ man. Spiteri continued to im‐ prove on his best times this year both on track and non‐stadia events.
At the International 5km of Nice, Dillon Cassar brought home a prestigious second place with a 14:47 timing while Joelle Cortis emerged victorious among the ladies with a 17:40 timing.
Further afar, at the Penn Re‐ lays Event in Philadelphia (United States), Gina Mcnamara, completed her 5000m race in 16:56, enabling her to earn a place in Team Malta for the same distance, alongside Lisa Marie Bezzina, a week after her im‐ pressive national record on the 1500m distance. Running the same distance, Jordan Gusman recorded a very strong 14:03 at the Drake Relays in Iowa. These two results certainly augur well for Malta’s chances at the up‐ coming GSSE.
Several other athletes com‐ peted in Marsa at the Fifth and final Athletics Malta challenge meeting seeking one last push to earn them a place on the Malta team. Youngster Graham Pelle‐ grini continued to impress after his 200m achievement the week before, winning the 400m race in 47.85 seconds, establishing a new Under 23 and Under 20 record in the progress. Matthew Galea Soler, Luke Camilleri and Steve Camilleri all dipped below 50” to all but confirm their pres‐ ence on the team.
In the jumps, Claire Azzopardi got the perfect boost for the Games equalling her PB with a 6.21m jump, albeit wind‐aided. She will be represeting Malta in both long and triple jump along‐ side Rachela Pace and Rebecca Sare’ respectively. Sana Grillo jumped 3.50m on the pole vault to obtain her MQS while An‐ tonella Chouhal improved the W45 record in the hammer with a 45.43m throw.
The longest distance of the day, the 10,000m, featured two bril‐ liant solo performances by Luke Micallef and Lisa Marie Bezzina. Micallef took the win in a superb time of 30:23, while Bezzina concluded in 35:41 to earn the right for a double participation at the upcoming GSSE, giving her the opportunity to repeat the splended double‐gold of Mon‐ tengro 2019.
The final qualifying event will take place on Monday morning, drawing the curtains on a packed calendar of competitions through which Malta’s best ath‐ letes battled it out for a place on the GSSE team.