Malta’s busy athletics summer continued this past weekend with local club Pembroke Athleta hosting another edition of the EAP International Meeting with the support of Athletics Malta.
Facing tough competition, Maltese athletes fared well, bringing home a number of wins, one national record, six age group marks, 13 EAP Malta records and one EAP future record.
EAP meetings bring together a number of elite athletes from across the continent.
Indeed, some 30 foreign athletes travelled to Malta for this event, with another 55 having to cancel their plans in the last few days following the introduction of travel restrictions to the island.
Daniel Saliba (Pembroke) broke his national record in the 110m hurdles when clocking 14.69s, to finish second. This has been the fourth time that Saliba broke the national record this year.
Claire Azzopardi (Pembroke), took part in three events, collecting medals in her preferred horizontal jumps.
Azzopardi claimed gold in the triple jump with a season-best of 12.83m, which was also an EAP meeting record.
She then finished second in the long jump, once again clearing the 6m mark with a jump of 6.01, and then finished fifth overall in the 100m with a run of 12.07s.
One of Malta most prominent athletes Steve Camilleri (Pembroke), fresh from securing another national championship win a week earlier, was able to smash his own personal best in the 100m dash after seven years with a time of 10.62s in the heats and 10.73s in the final to finish third overall.
For Camilleri, this was the fourth-fastest time any Maltese athlete has ever run over the distance.
Sarah Busuttil, who was crowned national champion a week earlier, was able to dip under the 12-second mark once again with a time of 11.97s in the heats and later against very tough opposition finished fourth overall in the final.
European Team captain Ian Grech (Pembroke), focused on the organisation of the event, yet was still able to jump 14.97m in the triple jump, to take the gold medal in the process, doubling on his national championship success a week before.
Matthew Galea Soler (La Salle) broke the Under 16 400m record with a very promising time of 51.37s. The previous best of 51.53, stood for 11 years. Galea had a tough race against Rush athlete Isaac Bonnici, leaving his kick to the end of the race to win the event.
Christian Chetcuti (Pembroke) reconfirmed his dominance in the 800m distance running a solo race from the outset and clocking another great time of 1.54.87 despite the tough wind conditions, breaking an EAP Malta record.
Dillon Cassar (Mellieha AC), re-confirmed the great shape he is in, once again running a very strong 5,000 metre race finishing in 14’35”4, breaking an EAP Malta record in the process.
On the same distance, promising junior athlete Gabriel Farrugia clocked an impressive 15’32″24, achieving the second-fastest time ever run by an Under 18 Maltese athlete and establishing a new EAP Future record for the same age category.
