El Aida Chaffey claims 60m Winter crown in Athletics Malta showdown

The opening phase of the Maltese athletics calendar drew to a close over the weekend with Athletics Malta’s Winter Championships, the traditional meeting that awards the first local track and field honours of the year.

On track, the 60m sprints once again the centre of attention. Omar El Aida Chaffey of Żurrieq crossed the line first in a swift 6.90s, ahead of Pembroke’s Graham Pellegrini in 7.20s, who just edged Rush AC’s Luca Gerada by one hundredth of a second. In the women’s race, Claire Azzopardi of Pembroke led the field in 7.69s, followed closely by Thea Parnis Coleiro of Rush in 7.72s. The latter had run faster in the semi, setting a new U20 national record with 7.67s timing.

Parnis Coleiro returned strongly in the 300m, winning in 39.51s ahead of Azzopardi’s 39.90s. In the men’s 300m, Matthew Galea Soler of La Salle posted an impressive 33.80s, with Pellegrini clocking 34.66s and Jorrin Busuttil 35.15.

Nathan Myers of Rush AC claimed the 600m in 1:22.93, as Matteo Gauci of La Salle set a new national best under-16 mark of 1:24.20. Janet Richard of Pembroke dominated the women’s race in 1:31.98.

Matthew Azzopardi of La Salle delivered a standout 1,000m performance, setting a new national under-18 record of 2:32.93.

On the field, Bradley Mifsud powered back to strong form with a 52.80m win while Sana Grillo’s 3.50m pole vault jump earned her a ticket to the next CSSE Gmaes.

The throws reaffirmed the emergence of a number of young athletes with notable performances by Rush AC’s Thais Catania whose 31.00m in the javelin was a national best in the U18, and her teammate Sophia Curmi who threw 50.23m, narrowly missing the hammer record by four centimetres.  On track, another youngster setting a national best was Thomas Neil Attard in the 60m hurdles with a 9.50s timing.

Mireya Bugeja sets 3000m NR in the US

Beyond our shores, at completely opposite sides of the globe, two impressive performances by Maltese athletes. In Indianapolis, at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, Mireya Bugeja produced a superlative performance in the 3000m, a time of 9:34:13, establishing a new national record on the distance.  At the Tokyo Marathon, Luke Micallef continues to impress producing a superb perfomance with a 2:18.05 finish, the second-best ever Maltese time recorded.