Paolella bursts on record scene in Berlin

SSC Berlin-Reinickendorf's international meeting held over the weekend in Germany, reserved a pleasant pre-season interlude for budding swimmer Francesca Paolella.

The Sliema ASC girl had for some time been knocking on the door of a successful breakthrough when registering some impressive times in the 100 metres breaststroke last year.

Yesterday, and on Saturday, the 1989-born swimmer managed to pull it off when she broke the 100 and 200 metres national records.

She covered the shorter event in 1:17.25 and the longer race in 2:47.75, thus erasing the name of Stephanie Schranz from the record books for the two distances.

Schranz's times of 1:17.26 and 2:49.10 for the two events had been standing since 1998 and 2000 respectively.

Paolella practises under the guidance of coach Gail Rizzo in the national B squad. She will be looking forward to making further inroads once the season is in full swing.

After her emphatic burst on the local swimming scene and considering her age, the future for Paolella, daughter of former Sliema ASC player and coach Peter, looks ever brighter.

In Berlin, Paolella is forming part of an 18-strong group from Neptunes and Sliema, accompanied by coaches Rizzo and Anita Mercieca Bons respectively.

Most of the swimmers achieved personal best times and some even qualified for the finals.

Other swimmers attending this top level meeting in Berlin came from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland and hosts Germany.