Watch: Sasha Gatt storms to 400m gold medal, Portelli takes bronze

Sasha Gatt continued to underline her status as one of the stars of Malta’s swimming national team when she stormed to her second gold medal in this year’s edition and propel Team Malta to the magical number of nine gold medals of the Games.

Her victory meant that the Maltese contingent had fulfilled its objective of eclipsing its previous best in a previous GSSE when they had claimed eight gold medals in Liechtentein 2011.

Gatt, who came into the 400 metres race on the back of winning gold in the 800m and silver in the 1,500m, was determined to have another go at gold and produced tenacious performance.

The talented swimmer led the race up to the 300 metre mark but was leapfrogged by Iceland’s Snaefridur Jorunnardottir.

However, Gatt refused to throw in the towel and in the final 50 metres she embarked on an impressive burst of pace that saw her touch home first in a time of four minutes 17.52 seconds.

Jorunnardottir was second in 4:17.79 while the bronze medal was won by Monaco’s Lisa Pou (4:20.69).

“It is such an overwhelming feeling for me at the moment. I believed I could win a gold medal, but not two. I faced some very tough competitors, but I couldn’t achieve this result without the support of my teammates, my coach, MOC, ASA and my family.

“It was a very tough race. All I concentrated on was to keep in touch with my rival and then I just gave my all, and luckily it went out well, and I am so happy.”

On his part, coach Ioan Catalin said that the results achieved by Sasha Gatt and all the other swimmers in the team were a prove that with hard work, one can achieve anything.

“We came here a month ago, we left our families at home, and we gave everything for the sport,” Catalin said.

“We know what we are capable of, we know what my are athletes are capable of, and we have to go for it. That is the only way to succeed, to give it all, and results will come.

“In any sport, we need to look for the young generation with the help of experience athletes who push them up. With our help, but all the youngsters need to follow the footsteps of the more experienced athletes to reach the top.”

Young Michela Portelli won Malta’s second medal of the day when she took bronze in the 100m butterly.

Portelli touched home in one minute 04.31 seconds. The gold medal was won by Johanna Gudmundsdottir in 1:01.48 with Nadja Djurovic, of Montenegro, taking silver in 1:01.93.

Kyle Micallef just missed out on a bronze medal in the 50 metres freestyle by a mere 0.05 of a second when he placed fourth in the final.

Micallef touched home in 23.05 seconds.

The gold medal was won by Kim Issei, of Monaco, in 22.80, just 0.04 seconds ahead of Luxembourg’s Ralph Daleiden Ciufferri.

Julien Henx, of Luxembourg, took bronze in 23.00.

Malta’s Zoe Cawsey suffered the same fate as Micallef when placing fourth in the women’s race. The Maltese swimmer clocked 26.75, 0.5 seconds slower than bronze medallist Anna Hadjiloizou, of Cyprus.

The gold medal was won by Kalia Antoniou, of Cyprus, in 25.28.

Victoria Balderacchi came close to a medal in the 100m fly when touching home in 1:05.90, just 0.03 behind third-placed Jacqueline Banky, of Luxembourg.

Nathan Cachia was seventh in the 100m fly in 57.79 with Milos Milenkovic, of Montenegro, taking gold in 53.71.

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