Local veteran athlete Mario Bonello has won a gold medaland a silver in the World Masters Athletics Championships which are presently being held in Lahti, Finland.

Competitors at these championships include athletes whose ages range from 35 years, still in the heat of international competition, to 90 year olds battling it out in all track and field events.

Bonello won the gold medal yesterday in the 200m final where he clocked a time of 21.91 seconds.

Earlier, on Sunday, he had wonthe silver medal in the 100m.

More than 5,000 athletes are taking part in these world championships which have become a major event in the athletics calendar.

Malta was represented with a small team of two athletes, the other being Alan Zammit. In the past, both runners have held the Maltese national records in the 100m and 200m.

The 100m heats commenced on Thursday with Alan Zammit in the M45-49

category clocking 12.78sec despite carrying an injury. He placed fourth in his heat and 21st from 40 participants.

Mario Bonello won his heat in the M35-39 category with a time of 10.95sec, so that he advanced to the semi-final held earlier today. Mario also won his semi-final in 11.08sec advancing to the final with the third best time over all.

In the final, despite a slow start, he pulled through the field to end the race in a very tight second place in a time of 10.99sec. The winner Nnamdi Anusim from Finland, who is native of Nigeria, won with a time of 10.94sec with third placed being Amit Khanna from India in 11.01sec. This is Malta’s first ever medal at these world championships.