Challenge Meeting 6 at the Marsa Athletics Stadium delivered several high-quality performances across both track and field events, with the sprint competitions providing some of the most exciting contests of a warm afternoon in Marsa.
Claire Azzopardi (Pembroke) and Thea Parnis (Rush AC) continued their closely fought rivalry across both the 100m and 200m events, exchanging top positions in the process. In the women’s 100m, Azzopardi narrowly claimed victory in 11.75s ahead of Parnis in 11.78s. The positions were reversed in the 200m, with Parnis taking top spot in 24.23s ahead of Azzopardi’s 24.68s. Alessia Cristina also delivered two strong performances, securing third place in both events with times of 12.31s and 25.48s respectively. In both races, Diane Desira set two national bests in the Over-35 category after clocking 12.41s in the 100m and 25.81s in the 200m.
In the men’s 100m, a youthful line-up saw Jordan Pace (Savio) claim victory in 10.80s ahead of Jorrin Busuttil (Pembroke), who finished in 11.08s. The men’s 200m saw Graham Pellegrini (Pembroke) continue his impressive run of form, less than a week after winning gold for Malta at the Monaco European Challenger Games, dominating the field in 21.48s ahead of Jordan Pace in 22.32s.
The 400m produced another highly competitive race, with Under-18 athlete Nick Bonnet (Pembroke) registering a strong sub-50-second performance to finish in 49.87s ahead of Ali El Fannouri (Rush AC) in 50.35s. In the women’s event, Martha Spiteri (Żurrieq) dominated the field with a winning time of 56.67s.
In the 100m hurdles, Thomas Neil Attard (Rush AC) continued his strong series of performances by establishing a new national best in the Under 16 category with a time of 14.83s.
Meanwhile, Nicolai Bonello (La Salle) impressed once again in the pole vault, reaching up to 4.80m, before missing out his attempts at 4.86m for a national record.
Sophia Curmi continued to deliver in the hammer, with the Rush youngster producing a throw of 55.38m, just five centimetres short of the national record. In the same event, Antonella Chouhal added another record to her list, with a 46.68m throw, earning a national best in the Over-50 category.
Top performances overseas by Maltese athletes
Benjamin Salnitro delivered two strong performances in Valencia, progressing from the heats to the final with a wind-assisted 14.08s. In Canada, Gina McNamara recorded a solid 800m run in 2:11.33, while Gabriel Farrugia impressed in Stadtallendorf, Germany, at the Lightning 10,000m, clocking 30:05 and improving his own U23 national record by 41 seconds, coming agonisingly close to breaking the 30-minute barrier once again. Finally, youngster Iris Merle Camilleri ran the 1500m in 4:45.17 in Toulouse, a significant time for a 15-year-old.
