Luke Micallef has established a new national record on the 10km road race distance, with a superb performance in Bologna on Sunday.
Competing in the Interporto race, the 35-year-old completed the distance on the World Athletics-certified route in 29 minutes and 26 seconds.
Micallef’s time is particularly impressive as it was 13 seconds faster than the previous national best of 29:39 set by Jordan Gusman in Gold Coast, Australia in 2022.
Micallef was engaged in a three-way fight for overall victory with two other Italian runners.
In the end, Micallef had to settle with third overall, finishing just two seconds behind race winner Saber Zinoubi, of Tunisia. At the same time, Luca Magri, of Italy, took second place after just pipping Micallef at the finish line.
For Micallef, this is another national record to his name as he currently holds the country’s best in the 3,000 steeplechase.
Micallef’s timing in Bologna will be confirmed as a national record once it is ratified by Athletics Malta.
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