Nicola Muscat,

Swimmer, 20

Best time: National record for 50m freestyle: 0:26:59hr in Eindhoven, April 2014.

Nicola Muscat started swimming when she was five years old and has been swimming for the national team for six years.

When she was five, her parents encouraged her to practise different sports. In addition to sport running in her family, a history of serious scoliosis in the family made sport a necessity for Muscat. She soon dropped out of every sport, except swimming.

“It was the only sport I truly looked forward to practising every single day,” she says, adding how her “love for the sport and competitive character made me take it seriously and pursue it competitively”.

Muscat trains with her team 10 times a week. Apart from physical training, she also trains to be dedicated and focused.

“We train our minds to remain strong when the body becomes very weak.”

This is hardly ever easy especially since she has to find a way to do it on her own. She and her team’s day includes training, planning meals, schooling and rest. Like most, she does not follow a strict diet, although she does have to monitor her intake and fat percentage. Because the season is long, she has to eat, train and rest properly in order to perform well.

Even though she has competed at the Olympics and many other high- level competitions, Muscat admits her most memorable race was one she won in Malta.

“At 14, I competed at the FISEC Games. It was a huge turning point in my career because I never thought I could swim so fast. All my family were present and my brother ran down with excitement to make sure I knew my time and second placing. It was a complete surprise to me.”

Ever since she was five, Muscat’s goal has always been to represent her country at the Olympics.

When she achieved this, she aimed to reach a higher level internationally and place Malta in a new ranking for swimming and to compete at the Olympics once again.

Her current aim is to break the 100m freestyle national record. She is 0.20 splits from breaking it.

Keith Camilleri,

Formula 4 racing car driver, 21

Best Formula 4 placing: FIA Formula 4 Italian Championship, third in category. Took part in five weekends out of seven.

Keith Camilleri has been racing since he was 17, starting with a go-kart. However, he used to race extensively on online virtual racing simulators since he was 13. This, he says, gave him the basic circuit racing experience. “It certainly whet my appetite for motorsport,” he says.

Camilleri has racing in his blood. His father, Hubert won the national hillclimb championship 12 times.

How does he train in order to remain a fast driver?

“There’s a lot more to motorsport than just driving a car,” Camilleri says. He does four-hour sessions about five times a week of physical exercise that includes gym, bike, running and tennis. He also does extensive mental training on simulators.

Camilleri’s diet consists mainly of carbs and a lot of water.

“It’s physically exhausting having to deal with the G-forces for 30-minute sessions at a time,” he says. Exercise mainly is focused on his upper body

His most memorable race was in Imola.

“It was only my second race, and the first on a circuit that I’ve grown watching my Formula 1 heroes compete in. I started 10th and managed to make my way up to fifth among some very stiff competition.”

Camilleri races an Italian Tatuus chassis with a 1.4L turbo Abarth engine. It’s an open wheel single seater car. The power output may only be 160 bhp, but given that it only weighs 570kg, the power to weight ratio is not bad at all. His favourite part is the steering wheel, which transmits plenty of information about what the car is doing while Camilleri is racing. The car is Camilleri’s first open wheel formula car. While it did give him a few problems in the first test, it behaved very well after that. The only thing he regrets is not being able to drive it more in tests due to the financial difficulties that come with competing at these levels.

Camilleri’s goal is always to perform at his best and improve constantly.

“I’d like to say that my goal is to win,” he says. “However, given the lack of experience I have, I know that is not something that can happen overnight. But with enough time and resources, the team and I can get there.”

Gerald Grech,

Runner, 37

Best time: 0:01:54:76hrs at an 800m event in Belgium, August 15, 2000, placing him in the top five Malta all-time list for 800m.

Gerald Grech is a national team athlete who, among his achievements, placed second and first from the Maltese in the 2011 Malta Half Marathon.

Grech, 37, has been running for 20 odd years. He has participated in big events including the Small Nations Games and the Youth Olympics. Grech exercises daily, doing a 10km run or more each day under the professional guidance of his coach and mentor Ivan Rozhnov.

It was the competitive element that first inspired Grech to getinto running.

“When I was 10, I went to see my cousin take part at the St Aloysius College sports day,” he remembers. “The effort I saw him put in, coupled by his victories, made me want to do the same.”

Grech started taking part in school races and then, at 15, began regular training with his uncle.

“I was always doing outdoor activities, from riding my bike to running,” he says. “I get this from my mum.”

He notes how competitive runners have a very close relationship with hours, minutes and seconds which is only meaningful in relation to distance covered while running either on the flat or on a hilly course.

“In athletics, like in other time- and distance-based sports, time is the main topic of discussion between runners, coaches or enthusiasts.”

Grech runs with a stopwatch or GPS watch to monitor his pace and effort. He has been keeping running diaries since 1994, logging in distance covered, time and heart rate which he then compares from year to year.

To remain fast and fit over specific distances, one must conduct consistent, customised heart rate based training, says Grech. It is also imperative to maintain a positive attitude.

The right nutrition and regular sleep patterns are key. Grech eat lots of fresh fruit, local raw vegetables and sprouts, nuts, dried fruits, grains such as basmati rice and buckwheat and occasionally fresh fish as well as plenty of filtered water. He also takes nutritional supplements.

Grech’s most memorable race was the Malta International Half Marathon (21.1km) on February 27, 2011.

“Everything went well on the day. I was in fifth position in the last three kilometres or so of the race, approaching Sliema Ferries. That is where I made the final push.

“I gained positions for a final sprint, claiming the title of first Maltese runner and second overall in one hour, 13 minutes and 44 seconds. The crowd, the result, the elation after many weeks of training made for a memorable experience indeed.”

Fabio Spiteri,

Triathlete, 40

Best time: 800m track: 01:52:08hrs (second fastest time). Ironman: 09:35hrs (second fastest time in ironman).

Fabio Spiteri has been involved in sports for almost 18 years. He started as a triathlete in 1997 but after one year, he switched to track running. He was chosen for the national team and focused on the 800m track. After seven years doing track and having suffered some injuries, Spiteri went backto triathlon.

Sport is an addiction for Spiteri who says he is: “Lucky to be able to swim, cycle and run and perform well in all three sports.” Also, he continues, triathlon reduces the possibility of an injury since he does not run every day, which reduces impact on his knees and legs.

Triathlon is a big challenge for Spiteri who races from one up to 10 hours. The challenge never ends, he claims, because you can always be a little faster.

Spiteri is self-coached and knowsexactly in which sessions he needs to go faster without getting injured or overtrained. He has just turned 40 but still wins races even when competing against younger athletes. Spiteri changed his full-time job some two years ago in order to commit himself to coaching, which he does in the evening. He dedicates from three to five hours in the morning to his own training. This often starts with a swim at the national pool at 7am, followed by a bike ride or a run. He also makes sure that he gets enough rest and healthy food.

Spiteri’s most memorable competition was finishing his first ironman. He swam 3.8km, cycled 180km and ran 42km without a break.

“I think it’s one of the scariest moments for an athlete to do such a race for the first time,” he says. “I was trained well but being at the starting line with super athletes and notknowing if you can finish the race still gives me the creeps, but in a good way. I have such a good memory of crossing the finish line and hearing the commentator shout, ‘Fabio, you are an ironman’.”

If you are a dedicated top athlete, you can’t do without gadgets, says Spiteri. He has always used Garmin gadgets to monitor his heart rate, swim, bike and run time and to get more data from the bike, which also serves as a source from which he can download overseas bike routes as well as a GPS.

Finally, the Garmin gadgets give Spiteri vital data about the watts he generates from his legs in order not to burn out during a race, if he is pushing too hard.