Scerri sets new national record in 100 freestyle

Madeleine Scerri became the first Maltese swimmer to break the 58-second barrier in the 100 metres freestyle on her way to setting a new national record in the heats at the National Acquatics Centre in Beijing yesterday.

Donning the new Speedo LZR Race suit, the Australia-based swimmer touched home first ahead of two other qualifiers in 57.97 seconds.

Macedonia's Elena Popovska placed second in 59.93 and Olga Hachatryan, of Turkmenistan, was a distant third in one minute 14.77 seconds.

Scerri's time was 0.14 seconds faster than her previous best of 58.11, set in April last year. She finished 45th overall from an entry list of 49 swimmers.

Malta's other swimmer in Beijing, Ryan Gambin, starts his Olympic adventure this afternoon when competing in the fourth heat of the 100 metres butterfly.

The 23-year-old, who qualified to represent Malta in the Games on his own merit, had stated that his target in Beijing was a place in the semi-finals. He faces quite a challenge in his heat (2 p.m. Malta time) as the other swimmers have a faster entry time when compared to Gambin's national record of 53.94 he set in Paris this year.

Gambin races against Czech Michal Rubacez (53.71), Mexico's Juan Jose Veloz (53.39), Denmark's Jakob Andkjaer (53.53), Greece's Sotirios Pastras (53.45), Italy's Mattia Nalesso (53.48), Romania's Ioan Gherghel (53.55) and India's Ankur Poseria (53.68).

The 16 fastest swimmers from the nine heats will qualify for tomorrow's semi-finals (4 a.m. Malta time).

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport Clyde Puli, who is currently in Beijing, hailed the performance of double trap shooter William Chetcuti who just missed out on a place in the final.

"Chetcuti did well to finish eighth in double trap. His showing was an improvement on Athens 2004. William has now obtained the best placings ever for a Maltese athlete in the Olympics," a government statement said.

Yesterday, the Mellieħa Local Council also congratulated Chetcuti for his achievements in Beijing. Chetcuti, 23, was born in Mellieħa and still resides in the village, north of the island.

On Tuesday, Chetcuti hit 136 clays to tie for sixth place with three other shooters. However, he failed to make the cut after missing out on a shoot-off with UAE's Ahmed Almaktoum, Russell Mark, of Australia, and Roland Gerebics, of Hungary.