Although failing to win the event, Malta's Ryan Gambin broke the national 50m fly record twice yesterday while taking part in the Luxembourg Open nationals.

In the heats he finished second overall in a time of 24.30 seconds. In the final he lowered the record again to 23.73 seconds, although he had to be content with third place.

He had set the previous record for the event last March when he was taking part in the European Championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Then, he clocked 26.78 seconds.

In the same event, Mark Sammut finished 22nd (out of 45) in a time of 27.25, while another Maltese swimmer, Stephen Slee was 23rd in a time of 27.65.

Gambin had also qualified for the 100m fly event at the Beijing Olympics during the Euros in the Netherlands with a fantastic time of 54.33 seconds.

However, in yesterday's event in Luxembourg, Gambin could only finish third in 56.41 seconds, behind Georgi Palazov of Bulgaria in 55.02 and Alexandre Bakhtiarov of Cyprus in 55.15.

In the heats, he had finished second overall in a time of 58.70 seconds. Malta's Neil Agius just failed to make it to the final finishing ninth in 1:01.87 while Robert Micallef was 14th in 1:05.28.

In the 200m backstroke, Mark Sammut finished third in 2:25.23.

The men’s quartet of Ryan Gambin, Neil Agius, Mark Sammut and Stephen Slee finished fifth in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay in a time of 3:48.54.

Madeleine Scerri was the only Maltese winner. She finished first in the final of the 100m freestyle clocking 59.36 seconds. Another Maltese youngster, Talisa Pace, finished sixth in 1:01.44.

In the 100m backstroke, Pace finished 12th in 1:14.38.

Angela Galea could only finish 4th in the 200m fly in a time of 2:29.08, well behind the winner, Beatrix Eisel of Luxembourg, who clocked 2:16.47.

The Maltese quartet of Madeleine Scerri, Angela Galea, Davina Mangion and Talisa Pace did well to finish second in the 4 x 100 medley, closcking 4:36.01.