Thomas Woods delivers strong performance in Salina

The second race of the Garmin BSJ Open Water Swimming Championship took place on Wednesday in Salina. Seventyfive swimmers took part and were split into three waves based on the previous race’s performance.

The two-kilometre race was set out on a triangular course consisting of two loops in Salina Bay.

The men’s race was a duel between Under 17 swimmers Andre Camilleri and Thomas Woods who from the word go took the lead. Camilleri and Woods were pretty much head to head throughout the race but a push from Woods towards the end saw him cross the finish line first with four seconds to spare from second placed Camilleri. Both swimmers gave a superb performance with both registering improved timings from the previous week. This was Woods’ first podium. In third place was Stefano Debono Grech who last week narrowly missed third place having been pipped to the podium by Luca Vella. This week, places were swapped, and Vella had to settle for fourth place.

Sarah Demicoli continued to shine, registering a five second improvement from last week’s finish time. She was followed by Kelsey Borg, who appeared for the first time on the Championship’s podium, whilst Martina

Micallef, who in the first race claimed second place took the third place on the podium. Micallef also registered an improvement in her time.

Amongst the swimmers, was the young Jake Vella who made an appearance on the start line following a stint in hospital.

Medals were presented by Mark Gaglione – representing Medcomms Ltd – exclusive agents of Garmin as main sponsors of the event and Robert Vella, representing proteinmalta.com supporting sponsors of the Championships.

The date of third race of the Garmin BSJ Open Water Swimming Championship will be announced on the Club’s Social Media pages in the coming days. Registrations will be accepted online via the Club’s website https://bkarastjoseph.com/. No Registrations will be accepted on the day.

Garmin BSJ Open Water Swimming Championship Results – Race 2 Males

1st - Thomas Woods (23:48) 2nd - Andre Camilleri (23:52) 3rd - Stefano Debono Grech (26:19)

Females

1st - Sarah Demicoli (25:57) 2nd - Kelsey Borg (26:46)

3rd - Martina Micallef (27:36)