Record for Roberta Callus as Maltese take honourable placings

Interest and expectations from the Maltese clan on the third day of competition were not as high as on the opening days when local swimmers won three medals.

Nevertheless, a sizeable crowd turned up at the national pool to give support to our athletes in their bid to maintain the improvement and thus register records or personal bests.

The biggest satisfaction of the day was provided by Roberta Callus who showed she is in peak condition when she broke her own national record in the 200m freestyle in 2:11.31. Her previous mark, set in Portugal last month, was 2:11.62.

In so doing, Callus managed to clinch a fourth place, only 1.31 seconds slower than the bronze medalist.

Two personal bests were registered by Angela Galea and Mark Buttigieg in the 200m breastroke for the respective categories. Galea confirmed she is in peak condition when she stopped the watches on 2:49.63 to finish sixth. This was 0.53 outside the previous record held by Stephanie Schranz.

Buttigieg also finished sixth in the men's race. He made inroads on his previous best of 2:37.66 two years ago when he clocked 2:36.17. This was 0.27 outside the national record held by John Tabone.

The Maltese swimmers involved in yesterday's races again had a beam of satisfaction on their faces after their ordeals. Callus said she was aiming to maintain her recent levels while Buttigieg was also upbeat about his result.

"I had to concentrate psychologically for this race as this was my last chance to prove myself," he said.

Galea was also satisfied with her swim yesterday.

"So far I have concentrated on the butterfly event. Perhaps I may put some effort on the breastroke event next year," she said.

Again coach Attila Selmeci was satisfied with the efforts put in by his swimmers.

"Roberta deserves all credit for her attitude and hard work. She registered a spate of national records in these last weeks. Mark and Angela also did well," he said.

Today's events will again see Galea and Buttigieg in action. However, the main attraction from the local viewpoint will be Neil Agius in the 1,500m free and Roberta Callus in the 800m free.

The third day's events were again highlighted by the swimmers from Iceland who won four gold medals, and Luxembourg who bagged two golds.