WATCH: National Record for Janet Richard as Malta at Euro Team Championships
8422 Mins Read
Malta’s participation at the European Team Championships in Silesia, Poland started off with a bang as Janet Richard finished second in the 400m race with a splending time of 52.37, a national record. She eclipsed her previous best, a 53.49s achieved at the Euro Championships in Munich last year. The race was won by the Irish athlete Sharlene Mawdsley in 51.55s. Among the men, a creditable four place for Graham Pellegrini with a time of 47.47s. Albania’s Franco Burraj won the race in 46.30.
On the field, Mireya Cassar threw 11.44m, in the shotput earning her 8th place, while Antonella Chouhal placed 7th in the discus with a throw of 31.70m also a season best for her. James Armani jumped 13.78 in the triple earning him 9th place overall. Cassar was on the field again just a couple of hours later this time in the hammer throw, with her 50.26m result earning her 7th place. Nicolai Bonello’s 4.00m jump earned him fifth place in the pole vault.
In the 5000m, Lisa Bezzina fresh from her 5000m silver at the GSSE, completed her race in hot conditions in 17:38.54, achieving 6th place for Malta in a very strong event won by Albanian Luiza Gega in 15:32.39. Gega is a gold and silver medallist at European Championship level.
Points for Malta were also obtained by Christian Chetcuti who placed fourth in the 800m in 1:53.03 in a race won by Bosnia’s Amel Tuka.
Luke Micallef, who won a bronze medal in the GSSE, produced another strong performance on the 3000m steeplechase with a 9:11.87 time, very close to his national record of 9:09:00
In the 100m, two sixth places for Malta, with Beppe Grillo (10.82) and Charlotte Wingfield (12.15s)
With these results, Malta ends the first day at the European Team Championships in a very creditable fourth place in the 15-team Division Three Championships, behind three very strong nations of Austria, Ireland and Israel.
