Nirvana Micallef takes silver in 200 butterfly
Sasha Gatt was the real protagonist for Malta at the pool after finally ending her quest of winning a gold medal in an individual event in a GSSE when winning the 800 metres final.
It was a really impressive performance from Gatt, who produced a very composed performance to touch home first in eight minutes 49.74 seconds.
The Maltese swimmer was engaged in a thrilling battle with Monaco’s Lisa Pou, but in the end, she came out on top.
Pou clocked 8.50.26 while Luxembourg’s Lou Jominet completed the podium when placing third in 9.06.87.
“It was a tough race as my opponent, Lisa Pou, specialises in Open Water Swimming and she is very strong, but I tried to stay close to her as much as possible and thankfully I won the gold medal at the end,” Gatt said.
“This result would not have been possible without the support of my coach, my family, and I am just happy to have won gold for Malta.”
Asked when she really started to believe that she could take the gold medal, Gatt said: “Honestly, it was a surprise at the end as you don’t know what your opponents trained for and it is always till the last touch.”
Nirvana Micallef enjoyed a fine debut in a GSSE when she brought home the silver medal in the 200 metres butterfly final.
The young Maltese swimmer was engaged in a tense battle for the gold medal with Luxembourg’s Emma Barthel with the latter just sneaking out victory with a time of 2:23.45.
Micallef was second overall in a fine 2:23.94 seconds and finished almost a second ahead of third-placed Agathi Manoli, of Cyprus, who clocked 2:24.92.
Nathan Cachia just missed out on a place on the podium when placing fourth in the 200 metres butterfly final.
Cachia completed the four-lap race in a time of 2:05.49 to finish behind gold medal winner Florian Frippiat, of Luxembourg, who won the race in 2:03.52, ahead of Holma Gretarrson, of Iceland, who clocked 2:03.77.
The bronze medal was won by Joao Reisin Carneiro of Luxembourg in 2:04.02.
Sean Wareing placed seventh in the 200m back when clocking 2:13.45.
On the other hand Dylan Cachia was sixth in the men’s 800 metres in 8.48.71 ahead of team-mate Nathan cachia (8.48.84).
In the final race of the day, Malta places seventh in the 4x100m relay when clocking 3:33.33.
Note: This coverage is being brought to you by National Lottery.
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