Another two bronze medals from the pool

Maltese swimmers collected two more medals yesterday after Angela Galea clinched bronze in the 100 metres butterfly before teaming up with Francesca Paolella, Roberta Callus and Davina Mangion to place third in the 4x200m free-style relay.

The results made it another pleasant day for the Maltese at the Serradells Pool. Galea, who on Tuesday won an historic gold medal in the 200 metres butterfly, shrugged off the strain of the previous day to claim another berth on the podium in her favourite butterfly style.

She clocked 1:04.86 to place third behind gold medal winner Maria Papadopoulou, of Cyprus (1:02.47), and Luxembourg's Kim Nikells (1.04.21).

"Honestly, I am surprised to have won this medal," Galea said after the race.

"The 200 metres butterfly final had left me with little energy but somehow I managed to dig deep into my reserves to place third."

Race winner Papadopoulou had a clear tactic in her mind this week. She was concentrating most on this final where she gave her all. It was her second successive 100m 'fly medal after winning it at the National Pool two years ago.

"I planned my race on Kim Nikells mostly," said Galea.

"She clocked the fastest time in the heats. I gave everything I had in the last 50 metres and I was somewhat unlucky to miss out on silver by a fraction of a second."

However, the most pleasant surprise of the day arrived from the 4x200 metres free-style relay team. Here Galea, Mangion, Paolella and Callus produced a superb team performance to clinch an unexpected medal.

The gold medal went to Luxembourg with a time of 8:44.39. Silver went to Iceland (9:04.29) with Malta third on 9:10.58.

Mangion said that the team gave their all.

"I was really excited at the start of this race," she said.

"In a relay each member of the team must swim for the others. Once I dived into the water I gave everything I had because I didn't want to let my team-mates down. Cyprus were coming strongly in the last 50 metres but luckily I managed to hang on."

Callus said all members in the team had clocked excellent times.

"Everyone in our team swam really well today and that was a decisive factor in this medal success," she said.

For young Paolella this was the first showing at the GSSE. The plucky swimmer reckoned this success will push them for more medal placings this week.

"This is unbelievable... a medal in my first GSSE," Paolella said.

"The team was very good today and that was clearly reflected in our result. Now we have the 4x100m IM coming up."

Galea is looking further than the GSSE though.

"I sincerely hoping that our efforts will not go unnoticed," she said.

"I think these results show that we are doing our best to improve.

"Hopefully, the authorities will give us more support to promote the sport and attract more people to the sport."

Mangion's national record

There was more to come for Mangion yesterday. She clocked a new national record on her way to place sixth in the 400 metres free-style. Mangion's new mark was 4:51.94.

The gold medal was won by Sigrun Bra Sverrisdottir, of Iceland (4:30.64). She finished ahead of Luxembourg's Christine Mailliet (4:30.69) and Audur Jonsdottir, of Cyprus, (4:37.62).

Neil Agius warmed up for his 1,500m race later on this week by placing fifth in the men's 400 metres free-style final. His time was 4:19.32.

The 400m gold medal was won by Hocine Haciane of Andorra (4:02.07).