The 16th Easter International Meet has brought in a fresh stream of air among our swimmers and has also provided their coaches with renewed impetus to keep working towards better targets.
Ten national and seven age-group records, all from locally-groomed swimmers, were evidence of a positive trend in this sport which has seen the performance graphs rise steadily across a wide range of races.
Sceptics will always argue that we still fall short of the expected progression comparable to that of other countries our size.
In fact, the MQS, based on an average third-placed time over the previous two GSSEs, will reveal that we still have to make more inroads in order to justify selection for the Games.
To others, especially the swimmers themselves, this is a hard line to follow, even if in truth we cannot remain blissfully isolated in terms of our own progress, thinking that our swimmers are keeping abreast with those overseas.
Frankly, it must also be said that the widening gap in standards between ours and those of other nations is due to various factors such as lack of sufficiently adequate funding, untapped resources and, ironically in a thankful way, our detachment from abusive practices of relying on performance-enhancing substances and 'technological doping' in the shape of smart expensive swimsuits.
On top of that, efforts to upgrade our swimmers' levels through the temporary recruitment of foreign-based nationals may be fruitful in the short term since a medal may come our way in downsized international competitions, but not so lucrative in the long term because of the disincentive factor for the purely home-grown swimmers.
However, be that as it may, no one will question the fact that the positive trend in swimming is still having a ripple effect on this sport as highlighted by the improved performances of several swimmers across all age categories during the traditional Easter Meet.
Coach Andy Colbourn was a happy man last weekend.
"The improvement that is currently being made throughout the whole of Maltese swimming is evident not only in the national team but across all clubs in Malta," he said.
"For me as national coach, being able to work alongside knowledgeable and enthusiastic coaches in charge of clubs representing Neptunes, Sliema, IASIS, Sirens and Birkirkara SJ just makes my job easier and very enjoyable.
"I feel a special mention must go to Andrea Agius and Neil Agius who both swam six races and broke five national records each (including the team events).
"Of course, there was Nicole Cremona, who not only claimed an important national record but also became our first qualifier for Cyprus."
Colbourn limited himself to those who broke individual national records, but certainly there were several other up-and-coming swimmers who posted age-group records and personal bests.
All these form the basis of our emerging crop of athletes in the pool.
These youngsters have the backing of their coaches, the sacrifices of their parents and the organisational knowhow of the ASA Swimming Board and officials to sustain them.
Apart from all these people, Colbourn made a special mention of Charlie Sparing who, with the help of his colleagues, meticulously ensures that all the equipment is in place during the swim meets at Tal-Qroqq.