Sprinters Beppe Grillo and Carla Scicluna will be flying the Maltese flag at the European
Indoor Championships in Istanbul with two blistering performances on the 60m distance.
Pembroke’s Scicluna took the win with a superb 7.58s timing. Rush AC’s Thea Parnis Coleiro
coming home in 7.82m, cemented her place as the top u16 sprinter, with the second-best
time of the day. As expected, the male race was a fiery encounter with Grillo crossing the
finish line in 6.89s, establishing a new Under 23 National Record, a mere 0.02 seconds
ahead of Luke Bezzina (Pembroke AC). Jacob El Aida Chaffey (Blaze AC) came third in 6.98s.
The Winter Championships held at the Matthew Micallef St John in Marsa produced a
strong of positive performances particularly by the younger generation of athletes, with
most of the races producing national or category records.
Kyla Farrugia’s golden moment continued as she chalked the third Under 23 record in three
weeks, this time on the 3000m distance, clocking 10:43.76, through which the St Patrick’s
athlete claimed second placed beyond experienced athlete Mona Lisa Camilleri (AS Libertas)
who won the race in 10:38.09. The male race was dominated by Mellieħa AC’s Dillon Cassar
who retained his superiority on the longer track distances with an 8:36.10 wind-battered
win.
Rush AC’s Bianca Shoemake was one of the stars of the day, with three fantastic
achievements on both track and field. She lowered the 60MH U16 outdoor record and
shattered the 300MH hurdle record at U16, U18, U20, U23 and Open level. In between she
also won the Under 16 hammer throw competition.
Pembroke’s Graham Pellegrini set a new Under 20 national record over the 300m distance
with a time of 34.42s. The race witnessed the return to the long sprints for Steve Camilleri
(Pembroke AC) after a 14-year absence, who registered a very encouraging 35.57s. Janet
Richard (Pembroke AC) dominated the women’s race in a time of 39.28s followed by Kay
Testa (Pembroke AC) and Martha Spiteri (Żurrieq Wolves) with 40.92s and 41.16s
respectively. Youngster Michael Debattista (Pembroke AC) stole the show in Men 1000m Open race
lowering no less than three benchmarks with his 2:39.03 timing, setting a new U18, U20 and
U23 National Record in the process.
The 600m race was also an exciting affair with Luke Camilleri (Pembroke AC) leaving it late
to win in a dramatic finish of 1:21.99 with Christian Luke Chetcuti (Pembroke AC) finishing in
1:22.78. In the female race, Michela Caruana ran a 1:37.12, an U20 and U23 record.
