It's all about raising the bar

Having returned from Melbourne after taking part in the World Championships, national team swimmers were all set to resume their preparation for their main target of the season, the GSSE in Monaco in June.

A day after the group had arrived from the long trip, national team coach Andy Colbourn was back to routine business at the National Pool with his 13-strong squad.

To say that Angela Galea, Davina Mangion, Talisa Pace, Madeleine Scerri and Neil Agius performed with merit Down Under is no over-statement. Five national records, an age-group record, two personal bests and other good performances testify to this.

Colbourn was satisfied with the results.

"Our group gained a lot of experience from such a global event and exceeded expectations. It was great for them to mix with world class swimmers and get the feeling of such a big gathering," he remarked.

Although their participation in this event was on a complimentary basis, they had to achieve set standards for selection based on performances over the previous six months. In fact, the times they recorded in Melbourne vindicated the selectors'' faith in them.

There will be no such token representation early in June as the swimmers can only earn a place in the Monaco-bound squad on the evidence of a minimum qualifying standard based on the better of the two third-placed times in the preceding two GSSEs in Malta and Andorra.

Colbourn is fully aware that there is a lot of work still to be done to maintain an upward graph in the swimmers' progress chart. So far the indications are that this trend can be kept up.

He said: "It's going to be pretty tough to reach the required standards since making the swimmers peak twice, once in quest of the MQS and then during the Games themselves, is not easy considering the long pauses in their preparation due to various reasons.

"The realistic target is the 4x200 women's relay race where we obtained the bronze in Andorra in 2005. Not long ago we spurned the chance of breaking the national record in that event when our improved time was aborted due to a false start.

"Once the girls have obtained the qualifying time in that race, the door should be open for them for the individual events. So far, only Scerri has obtained qualification."

Since opting to fly Malta's flag Scerri has twice beaten the 100 metres freestyle record in Melbourne, besides improving on the 50m mark.

Colbourn stressed that the other swimmers were still facing a tall order.

"The targets are very stiff and this is more so in the men's category where our boys have been striving hard to keep up the desired pace," he said.

Many will concede that the male swimmers' rate of progress has not maintained the momentum in relation to that of their counterparts from Cyprus, San Marino and Monaco, never mind Iceland whose men are a class above ours.

A helping hand can be the foreign-based swimmers of Maltese stock who are willing to represent their country of origin.

The benefits in the short term are obvious as this could boost our medals' tally in international competitions.

But over a long period one has to see whether such 'recruits' will be a disincentive for our home-grown talent who are mainly motivated through the possibility of breaking national records which are within reasonable reach.

Progress is steady but gradual in this sport and that is what keeps the swimmers going.

Spending money on getting a world class performer of Maltese origin to represent our country briefly before 'disappearing' again is not very wise. The priority should be to invest in our budding talent at home.

There might be a case if foreign-based swimmers flying our national colours perform reasonably enough above the levels of the home-grown breed. More so, if the newcomers can mix with our youngsters for some time and thus help to raise their standards.

The national coach would not be drawn into this matter. He limited his comments to his swimmers' performances in the light of what may be expected of them in the next few weeks.

"Mangion is still in forward mode as was seen when she shaved the 200 free national mark. Melbourne also proved to be fertile ground for her when she did a couple of PBs. Surely, she is on a progression course," Colbourn continued.

"Pace has also been up to it in Australia. She was amazing as she raised her standards in the 100 and 200 freestyle races. Credit goes to Gail Rizzo for this improvement."

Pace's progress

Pace now holds six individual age-category records - she has also unofficially bettered the Group D 200 metres freestyle limit - and two national ones achieved in Melbourne on a team basis.

Such statistics, including a 1:02.52 split in the 100 freestyle, show that the 13-year-old Neptunes' swimmer, could well step into the boots of Rizzo who broke several records at a tender age.

The inclusion of Scerri in the team has certainly provided a tonic for the girls, who may not regard the 'adopted' girl too far ahead of them in terms of their PBs. This could also see their chances of staking a claim for a medal of some sort in one of the relay events, as realistic.

But such is the ever-improving standard of swimming that our limits will have to be bettered if the relay team is aspiring for a place on the Monaco podium in ten weeks' time.

Neil Agius has also been swimming consistently well, even if he has to make further inroads in his events if he is to be in the team for Monaco, let alone insert his name among the medals.

Indeed, it's all about the national team swimmers raising their bar even higher despite difficulties they have to face in their preparation, primarily due to lack of continuity in their training and a dearth of competitive build-ups.

Inspite of this, Colbourn, under whose charge his swimmers have set a good number of records since he officially took up the job ten months ago, remains hopeful that, given the right motivation and the good work being done by the Maltese Olympic Committee, the ASA and all those concerned, including the club coaches, the way ahead will be fruitful.

Yet there was this cautious keynote from him - 'we still have some way to go'.

Melbourne Highlights

National records
50m freestyle: Madeleine Scerri, 27.29 seconds.
100m freestyle: Madeleine Scerri, 58.47 seconds.
200m freestyle: Davina Mangion, 2:11.22.
4x100 freestyle: 4:08.03 seconds (Scerri, Mangion, Pace, Galea).
4x100 medley: 4:37.06 seconds (Scerri, Galea, Mangion, Pace).

Age-group record
200m free: Talisa Pace, 2:15.08.

Personal bests
100m free: Davina Mangion, 1:01.55.
100m butterfly: Davina Mangion, 1:06.39.