Nicolai Bonello continues to set new national standards in pole vault at Marsa meet

Nicolai Bonello defied the strong winds at the Matthew Micallef St John Athletics Track at Marsa to better his own national standards for a second successive week during a meet on Saturday.

The La Salle AC athlete went into Saturday’s meeting on a high after last weekend he managed to better the national record in the pole vault event no less than three times to set a new standard of 4.61 metres.

Competing in very difficult weather conditions, with gusts of wind hitting the Marsa track, the young pole vaulter managed to improve his national record when leaping to 4.62 metres.

However, Bonello was not happy and went on to attempt 4.65 metres, a mark which he had tried to clear last week but failed.

But this time around, the young pole vaulter was not to be denied as he cleared the height to set a new national record for the second time.

No doubt, these performances continue to show the continuous growth of Bonello in this unique discipline.

Bianca Shoemake set a new U-18 national record in the hammer with a throw of 56.37 metres.

On the other hand, Isaac Bonnici set a new U-20,U-23 and senior national record in the unusual distance of 600 metres when clocking a time of one minute 21.05 seconds.

Graham Pellegrini was another Maltese athlete who clocked a new national record on Saturday as the Maltese sprinter improved the national indoor standard in the 400 metres event at the Balkan Indoor Championships in Istanbul.