Carla Scicluna, Beppe Grillo in action at European Indoors in Istanbul

Top Maltese sprinters Carla Scicluna and Beppe Grillo are in Istanbul where they will be representing Malta at the European Athletics Indoor Championships.

This is a very prestigious championship that will see Europe’s elite compete for glory with an eye already looking ahead to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

For the two young Maltese sprinters, who will be running the 60m distance, this will be a great experience given that their event will feature top sprinters such as Marcel Jacobs, of Italy, and Polish star Ewa Swoboda.

Jacobs is currently the reigning champion after victory in Torun in 2021. He also holds the Olympic (100m), World Indoor (60m) and European outdoor titles (100m).

More than 600 athletes from 51 European countries are expected to compete in the refurbished Ataköy Arena between March 2 and 5.

The two Maltese athletes qualified for this high-profile event after their victories at the Winter Championships held in Marsa last February.

Grillo claimed his victory in 6.89s while Scicluna won in 7.58s.

Despite their young age, both Grillo and Scicluna have already secured international exposure, with the former having competed at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Colombia, while Scicluna ran alongside the world’s best at the Tokyo Olympics and at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, in Serbia last year.

Scicluna will be in action on Friday morning while Grillo will make his debut on Saturday afternoon. Heats start tomorrow at 10.05am while Beppe goes on track at 7.20am on Saturday.

The Maltese delegation is supported by Eurosport, Visit Malta, NDSF, Malta Olympic Committee and Sport Malta.