[attach id=262845 size="medium"]Long jumper Rebecca Camilleri was one of Malta’s best performers at the European Team Champion-ships in Slovakia. Photo: Wally Galea[/attach]
Flying high is not the proper term to describe the exploits of a long jumper in athletics but that is exactly what Rebecca Camilleri has been doing since her comeback, if one can call it that, in the second decade of the millennium.
Leaping into the record books time and again, Camilleri is definitely no mellow-yellow although no longer a youngster.
Her success at the European Team Championships in Banska Bystrica last weekend atoned for her otherwise mediocre showing at the GSSE as Camilleri produced the seventh best leap out of the 50 participating countries, clearing 6.30 metres.
That is how prestigious her performance was in Slovakia.
The championships, now in their fourth edition, have maintained their popularity with none of the leading athletes on the continent missing the chance to compete for points for their countries.
Clearly, this has not gone amiss among our own athletes who are fast acknowledging this competition as their best target for international participation.
Two other national records, apart from that of Camilleri, were established in events which do not normally attract a large following locally but are quite popular on the continent.
Mark Herrera, combining his love of the longer distance with hurdling, added the 3,000m steeplechase to his string of successes while youngster Daniel Saliba set a new mark for the 400m hurdles in 59.38 seconds.
Other athletes who recorded a seasonal or PB were Nicole Gatt in the 400m, clocking 57.84 seconds, Lara Scerri in the 800m with a time of 2minutes 18.36seconds, Giselle Camilleri in the 5,000m, Ian Paul Grech in the high jump and Simon Spiteri in the 3,000m.
Overall, Team Malta failed to hold on to the ninth place from the previous editions, obtaining a total of 243.5 points to drop to 11th. Slovakia and Latvia gained promotion to League Two.
• Rebecca Camilleri was forced to pull out of the long jump and 100m event at the Mediterranean Games yesterday. The MOC said Camilleri had suffered a foot injury during training.