Swimmers setting sights on good season

First results in the build-up for the new season indicate that our swimmers should be in for another year of continued progress. Alex Vella highlights this encouraging start, while also giving some views of national coach Steven Kormos.

Our swimmers are only in the first months of preparation for the new season, yet the form-graph of most of them shows encouraging signs of yet more inroads in their bid to maintain the record-breaking trend marking recent years.

With the first two Time Trials under their belt, a number of young swimmers have already recorded several personal bests, besides setting four age-group records. The more established ones, engaged in an international competition earlier in November, gave an indication of a bright 2006 season when registering fast times in their respective events.

Steven Kormos, the Hungarian coach in charge of the national team, was in optimistic mood after the second Time Trial on Saturday. He was basing his assessment on the form shown by his group of swimmers in a recent Swim Meet in San Marino which was highlighted by some solid performances from the Maltese representatives.

Angela Galea won a gold medal in the 200 metres butterfly in a time of 2:21.70 and a bronze in the shorter event, while City of Cardiff SC-based Neil Agius was only 0.88 seconds short of his national record when covering the 400 metres freestyle in 4:17.32.

Davina Mangion was also impressive when recording 4:44.20 in the eight-lap freestyle race, just over two seconds outside her personal best. These times attested to these swimmers' early promise for the new season.

"These performances are comparatively better than those of last year at the same time," Kormos told The Times.

"So are those of the other swimmers in the group. If the same rate of progress is maintained new thresholds can be reached in 2006.

"We still have to go through a lot of preparatory work, though, and there cannot be any let-up in our training and competitive programme. So far things are looking good considering that the boys and girls are still in a period of hard preparation," Kormos continued.

The national team coach emphasised that the road is still long but there are distinct objectives to be reached. The morning and late afternoon training sessions, complemented by domestic and overseas competitions, should see the swimmers taper for specific targets, the first of which should be the Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne in March.

"I am satisfied with the progress of the swimmers. They are a hard-working group and fully committed to their routine daily training. It is hoped that we can continue on these lines," Kormos said.

It is understood that through the cooperation of the Malta Olympic Committee and the Italian Swimming Federation, our swimmers will be undergoing a training camp at Aquacetosa in Rome between December 26 and January 8, while participation in the FINA World Cup, scheduled for Berlin on January 20 and 21, is also a possibility. If this materialises it would be the first time a Maltese team will be taking part in such a competition, which is one of a series held in different countries.

November Time Trial

Meanwhile, last Saturday's second Time Trial drew a record number of approximately 130 swimmers representing five clubs.

The cool late autumn weather, also blotted by some showers, did not deter the youngsters from Neptunes, Sliema, Sirens, Exiles and a team from Ir-Razzett Tal-Hbiberija (RTH), officially known as IASIS, from participating in this event.

The highlights of the afternoon were two age-group records set by Neptunes' swimmers, who are under the charge of Gail Rizzo.

These came from Talisa Pace in the 50-metre freestyle Group 'B' race in a time of 30.15 seconds, three-tenths of a second inside the previous record of Christine Cachia set in Turkey in 1996, and from Francesca Paolella, whose 2:15.46 in the 200 metres freestyle bettered Davina Mangion's Group 'D' mark set last June by 1.03 seconds.

Besides a number of personal bests on Saturday, there was another good time clocked by Angela Galea in the 200 metres butterfly. She covered the four laps in 2:21.08, her third best ever for the distance and only 1.41 seconds shy of her national record set in the GSSE in Malta in 2003.

This latest encouraging performance in her favourite event, obtained during a period of hard preparation after the Swim Meet in San Marino two weeks ago, only shows that Galea, who is incidentally in the final year of her medical course, is in fine form and on the right course to mark her long swimming career with another spate of good results.

In terms of success and longevity in the swimming scene, the girl is a shining example and a role model for athletes in all sports disciplines, as her commitments both in the pool and in the academic field clearly demonstrate.