Angela Galea smashes 200m 'fly record
Angela Galea's positive trail in a sport, which until a few years ago had very little or no roots in Malta, continued yesterday when she smashed her own 200 metres butterfly record of 2 minutes 24.18 seconds established at the national championships...
Angela Galea's positive trail in a sport, which until a few years ago had very little or no roots in Malta, continued yesterday when she smashed her own 200 metres butterfly record of 2 minutes 24.18 seconds established at the national championships just two weeks ago.
Malta's foremost exponent in the butterfly events - in fact she holds all national records in this stroke - was competing in heat one in Manchester yesterday when finishing sixth in a time of 2 minutes 21.69 seconds, an improvement of 2.49 seconds on the previous mark.
The heat was won by Georgina Lee of England who finished about 14 metres ahead of Galea in just over 2 minutes 12 seconds.
It is to be noted that Galea was two places away from qualifying for the finals, as she placed 10th out of 14 entries.
In the process she beat one of her main rivals in the forthcoming Games of the Small States of Europe, Cypriot girl Natalia Roumbina who clocked 2 minutes 22.98 seconds in heat two.
National coach Attila Selmeci must have been very satisfied with the performance of Galea and Roberta Callus after they each set up two national records in Manchester during the six-day long competitions.
Galea's other record was in the 100 metres 'fly, while Callus was inside the 400 and 800 metres freestyle marks, besides establishing a personal best in the 200 metres freestyle event.
"The results in these Commonwealth Games have fulfilled our expectations," chairman of the ASA Swimming Board, Dr Michael Gialanze said when contacted yesterday.
"We knew our limitations, especially when competing on such a high calibre stage. Qualification for the finals was beyond our reach. But the girls had their sights sets on improving their personal bests, and those happened to be national records... we hit that jackpot."
Dr Gialanze remarked that such results should boost the image of a sport which has been given a much needed push in recent years.
"Angela Galea and Roberta Callus have given the lead. We intend to keep working hard to reach higher and more concrete targets," Dr Gialanze said.