Sliema ASC swimmers win Centenary Swimming Club Trophy at Easter Meeting

Sliema ASC emerged victorious at the 32nd Easter International Swimming meet that was held at the National Pool in Tal-Qroqq last weekend.

The Easter meet consisted of four days of competition with heats held in the morning while the final races were scheduled for the afternoon session.

A total of 476 swimmers competed in 2,430 individual entries while there were also an additional 42 Relay Team entries.

In all there were 387 swimmers that were registered with 13 local clubs affiliated with the ASA of Malta.

On the other hand, there were 89 swimmers who represented nine foreign clubs from Moldova, Romania, Panama, North Macedonia, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and Poland.

The meet was approved as a World Aquatics Qualifying Competition for the upcoming World Swimming Championships being held in Singapore in July.

As part of the ASA’s 100-Year celebrations, the Centenary Swimming Club Trophy was presented at the end of the four-day meet based on results obtained by swimmers during the events.

Sliema ASC lifted the trophy after ending the event with the highest number of gold medals – 41.

Among the most notable performances of the weekend, one has to mention the two national records set by Sasha Gatt.

In the 200 metres freestyle race, Gatt touched home in 2:04.25, just under 0.3 seconds faster than the previous best set by Mya Azzopardi in May 2021.  

But Gatt’s best performance arrived in the 400 metres freestyle when she completed the distance in 4:16.36.

Her effort was an impressive two seconds faster than her own previous national mark of 4:18.58 she clocked in June 2021. 

The Sliema ASC swimmer was not finished yet as she broke three Open records last weekend.

Gatt broke the 800m meeting record twice. She first clocked 8:55.81 as an 800m split during the 1,500m freestyle event and then improving on that to swim with an 8:52.75 during the 800m final.

Her other meeting record came in the 1,500m free when setting a time of 16:49.85.

There were other swimmers that set records during the meeting.

In the 50 metres breaststroke, Zoe Cawsey, of Neptunes WPSC, broke the Easter Meet Open record twice, first with a time of 33.27 during the morning heats and then improving on that to swim a 32.97 in the evening final.

In the men’s event, Sliema’s Henrik Starkus also lowered the Open category mark twice, clocking 29.32 in the heats and then stopping the watch at 29.08 in the final.

In a statement, the ASA thanked sponsors COOP Services, Go & Fun together with SportMalta for their assistance.