Galea wins silver Bronze for Gilford, Bezzina

Malta scooped three medals on the opening day of the athletics programme at the Andorra la Vella City stadium yesterday.

Carol Galea collected her ninth GSSE medal overall after finishing second in the 5000m race while Lisa Bezzina and Darren F. Gilford placed third in the 800 metres and 100 metres respectively.

Galea was Malta's top performer on the track despite a niggling foot injury. The 44-year-old tried to gain a grip on the 5,000m final from the opening lap but she was always closely followed by Iris Shiladottir, the eventual winner.

The pair kept close to each other until the final lap when the Icelandic outpaced Galea to win in a time of 17:55.39. The Maltese runner clocked 17:58.66. The bronze medal went to Fride Thordardottir, also of Iceland, in 18:15.70.

"It's great to win another GSSE medal for my country," Galea said.

"It was not an easy race. Unfortunately, I felt some pain in my leg during the race but I was never going to pull out and luckily I managed to finish the race quite comfortably. Besides, I experienced some breathing problems since I arrived here. I think my body has not yet acclimatised to the altitude conditions.

"But, all in all, I am quite happy. After the second leg, the rhythm of the race was too slow to my liking and I decided to dictate the pace. It's a pity that I was not strong enough to end first but for me this is an excellent result. Hopefully, I will do better in Saturday's 10,000m final."

While Galea is considered a GSSE veteran, her Pembroke team-mate Lisa Bezzina had never managed to finish on a podium since her first participation in the Games in Luxembourg. That negative run was halted yesterday when she placed third in the 800 metres race.

Bezzina trailed Inga Hafthorsdottir by around 200 metres in the final lap but the resilient Maltese runner produced a strong final dash to overtake the exhausted Icelandic middle distance runner for a dramatic but deserved place on the podium.

Bezzina, who clocked 2.16.76, finished behind Cypriot runners Anni Christofidou (2.09.57) and Gavriella Sofokleous (2.12.10).

"It's very difficult to describe how happy I am to have finally won my first GSSE medal," an emotional Bezzina said.

"I've trained really hard lately to win something in these Games and my efforts have been rewarded. All pointed to another unhappy ending when the leading three opened a sizeable gap. However, I kept fighting till the end and when I saw the one of Iceland within sight I took my chance. This is a precious bronze medal for me.

"I would like to thank my father Joe who is here to cheer me on. He follows me everywhere and I also would like to dedicate this medal to my husband, my coach and all those who always supported me throughout my career."

Gilford was Malta's other medal winner on the track yesterday when he dashed home third in the 100 metres final.

The gold medal was won by Daniel Abenzoar, of Luxembourg, in 10.42 seconds while Cyprus Michael Noephytos was second in 10.61, just 0.02 seconds ahead of Gilford. For the Maltese sprinter this was his second consecutive 100m bronze medal of the Games after placing third in Malta two years ago.

"I have mixed feelings about this medal," Gilford said.

"I'm happy to have won something again for my country but at the same time I know that I could have done more. I committed some errors that cost me the silver medal.

"I started the first 60 metres very strongly but in the final third I eased off too early and that dented my chances of taking second place. But things like this happen and hopefully I will learn from my mistakes. We will now focus on the 4x100 relay... we are hoping to finish among the top two."

Charlene Attard and Therese Mallia missed out on a medal in the women's 100m final after finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

Nikolai Portelli and Karl Farrugia are through to the men's 400 metres final while Lara Scerri and Martina Xuereb also booked their place in the final of the women's one-lap race.