Charlotte Wingfield will represent Malta at the European Indoors.

Given that Malta rarely suffers from the freezing weather that afflicts other countries in winter, indoor athletics and the events designed to fit such competitions have never really gained too much popularity.

That, however, is changing given the increasing number of Maltese athletes who are making it a point to take part in one or two indoor competitions held across Europe.

Such an increase in participation is bound to test a few national records and that has been the case early on this year with Charlotte Wingfield shattering the previous best over 60 metres.

Wingfield had already matched the previous best (set at 7.60s by Diane Borg in 2007) last year but over a weekend she managed to improve on it twice.

That came in the Welsh Indoor Championships late in January.

“This was a race I really wanted to win,” she told Times of Malta.

“I know it was the Welsh Championships and I’m not Welsh but each year I was fed up of coming second. This year’s winter training has been going extremely well so I’m just enjoying every moment and want to build on it.”

Apart from winning, the record was very much on her mind.

“I was (thinking of it),” she confirms.

As soon as I crossed the line in the heat and the commentator shouted out the time 7.46 I was in shock... to run even faster in the final (7.44s) was even more amazing

“As soon as I crossed the line in the heat and the commentator shouted out the time 7.46 I was in shock... to run even faster in the final (7.44s) was even more amazing.”

Despite this, the 60m remains “a weird event”.

“I have such a strong start but then the rest of the race is over so quickly.  Sometimes I don’t even breathe throughout the whole race. But it is a race I do enjoy,” Wingfield said.

Her most immediate focus now is the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade this weekend.

“My ambition was to qualify for the European indoors even if I had already been selected for participation. The European Athletics qualifying time is 7.42 so it would have been nice to automatically qualify for it.”

Last year, Wingfield represented Malta at the World Indoor Championships where she ran the 60m in 7.63s but she feels that she can do even better than her result in Wales.

“I think I can improve on it if I just focus on what I have done in training and just enjoy it,” she reckons.

“I’m only having a short indoors season where I will be running in a total of four competitions in all. I just want to get my legs going before outdoors where I hope to clock some fast times.

“Preparation could not be better so far. I’m thoroughly enjoying every moment and have a great team behind me.”