MALTA MEDALS
5 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze
21.30 That’s all from us as the GSSE opening day comes to an end. Malta secured 16 medals including five gold as they eye a record-breaking campaign at an away edition. We invite you to tune in to our website as we continue to bring further coverage of the Games during this week including through our daily blog.
21.25 We know that look Thea! You are a GSSE medalist indeed.
21.20 SILVER MEDAL! In the final event of the day one, Team Malta – Isaac Bonnici, Martha Spiteri, Jared Micallef and Janet Richard – finished second in the 4x400m mixed relay as Malta finishes with 16 medals on Tuesday.
In addition, the quartet set a new national record of 3:27.76.
21.10 GOLD MEDAL ALERT! Team Malta has struck gold in Gymnastics with the women’s team winning the Team final, scoring 138.250 points.
21.00 BRONZE! Beppe Grillo crossed the finish line in third place in the men’s 100m race, in a time of 10.62s. His fellow Maltese partner Omar El Aida Chaffey finished fourth in 10.70s, a personal best.
20.55 MORE MEDALS! This time in Gymnastics, with Sophie St John clinching silver while Philippa Busuttil finishing third, earning a bronze medal.
20.50 BRONZE MEDAL! Thea Parnis Coleiro (11.83s) clinched a bronze medal on her GSSE debut as she finished third in the 100m race. Claire Azzopardi, also involved in this race, missed out on a medal (12.27s).
20.40 In the 3,000m steeplechase race, Luke Micallef came short in his quest for a medal as he crossed the finish line in fourth.
20.37 In the long jump event, Rebecca Sare’ placed fourth with her best mark being 5.60m.
20.13 Rosalie Cauchi finished fourth in her 3,000m Steeplechase race as Luke Micallef will now run the same course in the male event.
20.08 Jemima Farley placed second, claiming her first ever medal in these Games as she is making her debut in Andorra. She spoke to SportsDesk, here.
19.46 In Swimming, Team Malta placed 7th in the 4x100m freestyle race with a time of 3:33.33.
19.44 SILVER MEDAL! Jemima Farley placed second in the 10,000m race as Malta picks its 10th medal of the day.
19.13 Sasha Gatt was delighted to bring home her first ever gold medal in a GSSE edition as she spoke to SportsDesk.
19.01 SILVER MEDAL! Jared Micallef came close to secure gold but had to settle for silver in a nerve-wrecking 800m final. In the same race, Isaac Bonnici finished seventh.
18.48 GOLD AND BRONZE MEDALS! Gina McNamara and Janet Richard picked Malta’s first medals in Athletics after placing first and third respectively in the 800m final.
18.39 In Swimming, Dylan and Nathan Cachia finished sixth and seventh in the 800m freestyle final, clocking times of 8:48.71 and 8:48.84 respectively.
18.29 Action in Athletics is ebbing and flowing. Let’s recap a bit what happened between the medals in Swimming and Basketball action.
Matthew Galea Soler topped his 400m heat in 46.90s, a personal best, while Nick Bonett finished fifth with 49.57s.
In the 100m female event, Thea Parnis Coleiro placed second in 12.08s while Claire Azzopardi was also second in her heat (12.28s). In the male category, Omar El Aida Chaffey crossed the finish line in fourth place (11.01s) while national record holder Beppe Grillo cruised in his heat in 10.85s.
18.26 Back to 3×3 Basketball, as in their final game of the group stage, the Malta women’s team defeated Monaco 18-14.
They will be in action tomorrow in the semi-finals as they seek a medal in this event.
18.22 In other Swimming results, Victoria Balderacchi was disqualified in her women’s 200m backstroke final, Sean Wareing placed 7th in the men’s 200m backstroke (2:13.45)
18.20 GOLD MEDAL ALERT! Malta has claimed its third top position of the day, with Sasha Gatt winning the 800m freestyle race in 8:49.74, her first ever gold in a GSSE edition.
17.45 In 3×3 Basketball, Malta men’s team lost its fourth match as they finished bottom of their group without a single win.
With just three teams competing in this event, Malta will still feature in tomorrow’s semi-final against either Andorra or Cyprus.
17.48 GOLD MEDAL ALERT! Malta secure its second gold of the day after as the women’s team defeated Cyprus 3-0 in the doubles final.
17.37 The Athletics events are underway as well with Martha Spiteri the first Maltese in action. She finished fourth in her 400m heat in 58 seconds.
17.23 Back to Swimming, as Dylan Cachia missed out on a medal after placing fourth in the men’s 200m butterfly event. He clocked a time of 2:05.49.
17.20 In the 3×3 Basketball, the women’s team conceded its first defeat of the competition, losing 16-10 against Luxembourg. They return in action soon, against Monaco.
Meanwhile, the men’s selection is gearing up to face Cyprus in its last group game to determine their position ahead of tomorrow’s semi-finals and final.
17.15 MEDAL IN SWIMMING… Nirvana Micallef, one of best prospects coming up in Maltese swimming, took silver in the 200m butterfly, clocking her swim in 2:23.94.
17.03 In the 3×3 Basketball, the Malta men’s team lost its third straight match, this time against hosts Andorra 20-18.
16.55 MEDAL IN TABLE TENNIS... Malta has secured a bronze in the men’s doubles. This comes after falling to a 3-2 defeat to Luxembourg in the semi-finals. In Table Tennis, the bronze is given automatically to the losing semi-finalists.
This means that Malta has 1 gold and 2 bronze medals as it stands.
16.30 Another gold in the offing?…. The women’s table tennis duo of Maria Carmela Iacop and Renata Strbikova will be gunning for gold in the tournament final scheduled in an hour’s time.
16.00 MEDAL IN KARATE... Malta earned its second medal of the day as Ibrahim Kalil Koska is forced to settle for a bronze medal after losing his semi-final against San Marino Emanuele Magnelli.
15.55 On their part, the men’s team, formed by Ian Felice Pace, Matthew Scerri, Nathan Xuereb and Nelson Kahler lost to Andorra 19-18 and then went down to Cyprus 21-11.
15.50 The Malta basketball 3×3 teams experienced mixed fortunes in their respective competitions as the women’s team won both their matches so far to all but seal their place into the semi-finals.
In fact, the team formed by Kristy Galea, Steffi De Martino, Amber Melgoza and Danika Galea broke little sweat to see off Cyprus 21-11 but then had to fend off a late fightback from Andorra to seal a 15-11 win.
15.40 Koska is through to the semi-finals of the Kumite +84kg category after avoiding defeat in his final group match against Nemanja Jovovic, of Montenegro. The Maltese athlete is assured of at least a bronze medal.
15.25 In the tennis events, Elaine Genovese moved to the quarter finals of the ladies singles after easily beating Anna Sofia Gronholm of Iceland 6-1, 6-3.
Genovese obtained a break in the first game and then again in the third game after a couple of double faults from Gronholm. Genovese continued to outplay her opponent, hitting hard from the base line forcing Gronholm to commit many mistakes.
Genovese sealed the set 6-1 with yet another break in the seventh game.
In the second set the match was more balanced with Gronholm keeping her service and forcing Genovese to some forced errors.
The game took the decisive twist in the sixth game of the second set when Genovese managed to break to a 4-2 lead.
Both held to their service in the remaining games with Elaine Genovese winning the second set 6-3 to move to the quarter finals were she will meet Tea Nikcevic who defeated Luxembourg’s Eleonora Molinaro 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
15.20 There has been more positive news coming out of Karate in the last few minutes as Malta’s Halil Ibrahim Koska won his opening bout of the +84kg category against Monaco’s Thimoty Cesa 8-0.
15.10 Jessica Vella won Team Malta’s first gold medal at the Games of the Small States of Europe after winning the Kata event in karate.
The young athlete remained unbeaten throughout the whole competition, as after topping Group B, she went on to secure victory in the semi-final and final to hand Team Malta its first success in the Games.
Vella’s gold is a major boost for the Maltese contingent, who are bidding to win at least nine gold medals and record their best-ever result in a foreign GSSE.
Read the full report here: https://sport.timesofmalta.com/2025/05/27/karates-jessica-vella-wins-team-maltas-first-gold-medal-at-2025-gsse/.
15.00 Welcome to the Times of Malta blog covering the Games of the Small States of Europe. It has been quite a positive morning for Malta with Jessica Vella handing the team its first gold medal of the Games when topping the Kata competition.
Note: This coverage is being brought to you by National Lottery.
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