Watch: Bohl delivers another gold as swimmers end with a flurry

Georgia Bohl added yet another gold medal for Team Malta in the 2023 GSSE as the Maltese swimmer stormed to victory in the 50 metres breaststroke race on the final day of the swimming competitions at the National Pool.

Starting on lane 4, Bohl dashed out of the blocks and managed to fend off the challenge of Maria Erokhina to win in a time of 32.04 seconds.

Erokhina was second on 32.57 while Iceland’s Birgitta Ingolfsdottir took bronze in 32.79.

“I am very excited and happy to be going home with two gold medals around my neck,” Bohl told the Times of Malta.

“It has been a great week for all of us and I am so proud to be part of it. The Maltese team has taken me with open arms and they made me feel at home. I’ve had an amazing week and I’d love to compete again for Malta in the future.”

Bohl said that she was not fully happy with her performance.

“I definitely swam faster this morning but sometimes it happens that you try too hard,” she said.

“But the most important thing is that I touched the finishing wall home and I am very excited about it.”

Thomas Wareing, Dylan Cachia and Sasha Gatt were the other medal winners for Malta.

Wareing managed to notch his second medal of the Games when placing second in the 400 metres Individual Medley in a new national record time of four minutes 36.11.

“I am very happy,” he said, “Considering that the 400m was not my main focus, to finish with a silver medal after winning bronze before is very satisfying.

“The fact that I had all the crowd here shouting my name during the race helped me a lot and gave me that final push to bring this medal home.

“Now I have the national championships in mid-June I will hopefully book my place in the world championships in Japan next July.”

Cachia was bidding to lower his national record in the 1,500m race but he managed to step on the final step of the podium when touching home in 16:06.96 – polverising the previous national best by 20 seconds.

“The fact that it was my final race, to be honest, the motivation was not at 100 per cent but I gave it all. It was quite unexpected to get the bronze medal and moreso a national record by 20 seconds.

“But I am pleased to have finished on a very high note. This GSSE are a stepping stone for my bid to qualify for the Olympics, so I am fully motivated to keep working hard and then see what happens.”

Gatt on her part ended the Games on a strong note when taking the second place in the women’s race when completing the distance in 17:19.79. The gold medal was won by San Marino swimmer Arianna Valloni.

Elsewhere Victoria Balderacchi finished seventh in the women’s 50m backstroke when touching home in 31.53 seconds. Cypriot Kalia Antoniou took gold in 29.38.

In the men’s event, Nathan McCleave just missed out on a medal when finishing fourth in 26.73 while Matthew Galea was eighth in 28.04.

The gold medal was won by Remi Fabiani, of Luxembourg.