Watch: Grillo finishes only fifth in 100m preliminaries, fails to progress

Beppe Grillo failed to progress to the first round of the 100 metres heats at the Paris Olympics after the Maltese sprinter could only manage fifth place in his heat at the Stade de France on Saturday.

Lining up in heat six of the preliminary round, Grillo, who had the second fastest time among the participants in the heat, could not match the pace of his opponents after the first 20 metres and from then on he it was an uphill struggle to secure a top two placing that would earn him a place into the next round.

In the end, Grillo crossed the finish line in 10.69 seconds.

Grillo’s final time was 0.46 seconds slower than his national record of 10.23 he set at the Balkan Championships in May this year.

Panama’s Arturo Deliser Espinosa won the race in 10.34 seconds and was joined in the next round by Seychelles’ sprinter Dylan Sicobo who clocked 10.51 seconds.

Gabon’s Wissy Frank Mokoula was third in 10.59 while fourth place was taken by Surinam’s Jalen Lisse.

Grillo was Malta’s last athlete to compete at the Paris Olympics.

Judoka’s Katryna Esposito produced Team Malta’s best showing of the Malta contingent with her resilient performance in the -48kg class against world champion Bavuudorjiin Baasankhüü, of Mongolia.

Swimmer Kyle Micallef was just outside his national record in the 50m heats while Sasha Gatt was not in the best physical condition in the 1,500 metres freestyle heats after contracting COVID-19.

Shooter Gianluca Chetcuti failed to maintain consistency in the trap qualifiers to placed 29th from 30 shooters.