[attach id=256835 size="medium"]Giselle Camilleri leading the way in the early stages of the 10,000 metres race, yesterday. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli[/attach]
Giselle Camilleri was Malta’s sole medal winner in track and field yesterday as the veteran long distance runner took bronze in the 10,000m on an evening when our sprinters failed to sparkle at the Josy Barthel Stadium.
Camilleri came into her race determined to rank among the medal winners after two fourth places in the previous Games.
With Montenegro’s Sladana Perunovic running clear for most of the distance, the draining race turned out to be a tight duel between Camilleri and Luxembourg’s Pascale Schmoetten for second place.
Perunovic cruised to victory in 35 minutes 21.21 seconds and it was Schmoetten who took silver in 37:04.37 ahead of Camilleri who breasted the tape in 37:24.22.
“The Montenegro girl was too strong for everyone today and she had a comfortable march for the gold medal,” Camilleri said after the race.
“Pascale was my direct rival for silver. We were close for long stretches but when she burst clear I opted to protect my position and in the end I’m pleased to have got this bronze medal.”
Camilleri’s result was one of a very few positives for our athletics team, yesterday.
In fact, Diane Borg finished fifth in the 100m final, when clocking 12.25 seconds, and Rebecca Camilleri failed to make the cut. She was third in her heat in 12.26.
In the men’s sprint, Steve Camilleri missed out on a place in the podium after finishing fourth in the final when clocking 10.90... just 0.06s slower than bronze medallist Kolbeinn Gunnarson, of Iceland.
Camilleri was just ahead of team-mate Luke Bezzina who was fifth in 10.98.
Rebecca Camilleri was also in action in the long jump final and her medal bid was curtailed by a series of no jumps to slip to fourth place after a leap of 5.82m.
The gold was won by Cyprus’s Nektaria Panayi with 6.07m, just one centimetre more than second-placed Haldis Sigurdardottir, of Iceland. Rebecca Sare was sixth with 5.21m.
In the 400m, Kevin Moore breezed to the final when winning his heat in 48.44 but Matthew Croker missed out after placing fifth in 50.66.
In the women’s one-lap race, young Janet Richard booked her place in tomorrow’s final when clocking 1.00.0 in her heat to finish third.
Lara Scerri ran the 400m in 59.8 seconds. However, she finished fourth in her heat and was unable to make further progress in the competition.