The showcase for Maltese Athletics, the national championships, held over two days, provided a good measure of competition, with keen tussles witnessed especially in the sprinting events. However, these were not the only events that caught the eye, as other fine performances were registered in the jumps and in the mid-distance encounters.

The performances must have been satisfactory to the Malta Olympic Committee as well, confirming not only their beliefs in the prowess of those already ear-marked to compete in the Games of the Small States of Europe, but also enabling the selectors to broaden somewhat the choice of athletes.

The 100m, the event most contested, reaffirmed the excellent form currently enjoyed by Diane Borg. Powerful and unbeaten this year, the 20-year-old sped to the tape in a time of 11.97 seconds, only four-hundredths of a second away from the national record. She gave a repeat performance the following day when in the 200m she registered a hand-timed 24.8 seconds, on both occasions winning by a hefty margin.

The male sprints saw Rachid Chouhal crowned as the fastest Maltese this season thus far, when he clocked 10.97, with Owen Camilleri proving to be the best man over 200m with his hand-timed 22.1 seconds.

The one-lap sprint was nonetheless exciting, Karl Farrugia finishing just over the 50-second mark. Running an exhibition race – her national championships being this weekend - youth category athlete Nicole Gatt covered the 400m in a magnificent time of 57.45 seconds to claim a place in the GSSE team. Francesca Xuereb and Celine Pace were also under one minute at this event.

While no new national records were registered, two Championships records marked both days. The first went to Alessandra Pace in the Triple Jump when she cleared 12.12 metres. That on Day two belonged to High Jumper Jeremy Borg, who equalled both the Junior national record and the Championship record with his conquest of the bar at 1.85 metres.

Back on the track, in the 800m, Mark Herrera recorded a fine time of 1:56.80 and in the 1,500m, Lisa Marie Bezzina clocked 4:45.72 while at the longer distanced events, it was Jonathan Balzan who claimed the 10,000 metres. Jason Martin won the 5,000 metres. Monlisa Camilleri and Carmen Hili were the winners in the female events.