The Xuereb twins, Francesca and Martina, made the Maltese contingent proud at the Stade Louis II Stadium in Monaco yesterday afternoon, as the two sisters sped to a deserved second and third place in the 400m final.

Francesca, running in lane seven, ran a splendid race and never relinquished her position, even if her sister Martina was right behind her.

Francesca clocked a good 55.72 seconds, while Martina finished third in 56.48.

It was the second time that two athletes had won a medal in one race in athletics. The other occasion was the 10,000 metres in Andorra two years ago, where Carol Walsh and Lisa Bezzina won gold and silver respectively.

At the end of the race, Francesca told The Malta Independent she was obviously very happy with the result. "It is a very emotional moment. Seeing my sister right behind me in third place gave me even more joy. That was the result of the several sacrifices which we made during the past months and years. Now we look forward to the future and hope to be the inspiration for youngster athletes aspiring to follow in our footsteps," she said.

Francesca was suffering from gastritis since yesterday morning.

Martina, who had her right foot bandaged heavily, was also emotional as she explained how happy she was to have won bronze and also for her sister who won silver ahead of her. "I am very happy, also for my sister, because we support each other in all that we do," she said.

The feat was obtained under the watchful eyes of their parents, Pierre and Tanya, who is also a helper of the Malta Amateur Athletics Association.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, Tanya said: "It is a great honour for our family. Obviously we are very happy and pleased with what our children have achieved. We have supported them at all times, whether it was for better or for worse. I can say they really deserved such a result which was the fruit of some very hard labour throughout the past few months."

Soon after the great emotion hovering around the women's final, we also had the pleasure to see Nicolai Portelli winning the bronze in the men's final for the same distance.

It was a fast race in which the winner clocked an impressive 47.94 seconds. Portelli was timed at 48.72 seconds. The other Maltese runner, Mario Debono, finished fifth in a time of 50.07.

In the last event of the day, Raschid Chouhal gained a bronze medal for Malta after finishing third in the Long Jump event.

Malta's first athlete in action yesterday at the Stade Louis II was Lisa Bezzina who took part in the 1,500m final.

But she had a slow race and could only finish a distant fifth.

By the end of the first lap the winner had already taken a good lead which she continued to increase as the race progressed. One by one, the challengers dropped out of contention, and she raced to victory after having opened a distance of around 30 metres over the second placed.

Bezzina had been consistently in fifth place from the opening lap, but in the final 150 metres, she was overtaken by the Luxembourg runner who finished in fifth place.

Bezzina was timed at 4:46.01.

Antonella Chouhal, holding one of her children, took part in the Discus event. She seemed to have been disappointed by her performance and even started crying as some MOC officials tried to console her. It was her first ever participation in these Games.

She finished last in the event with a best throw of 36.88m, which is well below her potential. The winner of the event had a best throw of 47.84 metres. Tomorrow, she is taking part in the Shot Putt event.