Maltese youngsters win four medals at the International Schools Sport Games
Jared Micallef has broken the 800m national record while competing at the Australian Championships, finishing fifth with a time of 1:46.08 at the WA Athletics Stadium in Perth.
In a weekend of records, Benjamin Salnitro has emerged as the new national record holder in the 400m hurdles, clocking an outstanding 54.66 seconds at Athletics Malta’s fourth Challenge Meeting this week. The La Salle athlete surpassed the previous record set just a week earlier by Jordan Pace in a remarkable turn of events. During the same afternoon, his teammate Thomas Grech also made his mark by claiming the 3000m steeplechase title in a time of 10:33.82, setting new national records in both the Under 23 and Under 20 categories.
In a busy week for Maltese athletics, four athletes competed at the European Running Championships in Leuven, Belgium, facing some of Europe’s running elite. Luke Micallef ran the 10K in 30:34, while Lisa Bezzina completed the same distance in 38:06. In the marathon, Simon Spiteri delivered an impressive personal best of 2:23:47, and Dillon Cassar finished the half marathon in 1:07:45.
Malta’s emerging athletes also shone brightly beyond our shores, taking part at the International Schools Federation Under 15 Gymnasiade in Zlatibor, Serbia, and bringing home four bronze medals. Kayleigh Ellul stood out by claiming bronze in both the 300m and 100m hurdles, setting a new national best of 15.20 seconds in the Under 16 and Under 18 categories. Matteo Gauci got his medal on the 800m, distance while the 4x100m relay team — consisting of Carey Spiteri, Kayla Slack, Leah Frendo and Kristina Azzopardi — also made to the podium.
