The Neptunes swimming squad has just returned from the Christmas Age-Group Meeting in Berlin, Germany.

The group was composed of 18 swimmers between the ages of 10 and 18 and was under the guidance of Reds head-coach Gail Rizzo and junior squad trainer Keith Bartolo.

Competing against 80 other clubs coming from Denmark, Poland, Switzerland and host country Germany, the Maltese swimmers made their presence felt and also figured in a few occasions on the podium among the medal winners.

Personal best times were achieved in 80 per cent of the races by the Neptunes swimmers, the club said.

Mya Azzopardi (born 2002) was the youngest swimmer in the Neptunes squad. She won a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly and a gold medal in 100m butterfly. Sarah Demicoli (born 2000) was third in the 200m ’fly event.

In the men’s division, Kyle Buhagiar (born 2001) won three silver medals after placing second in the 100 freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle.

Meanwhile, new national age-group records were also not lacking in Berlin as Azzopardi’s 50m butterfly time of 0:36.52 went into the records books in the Group A division and Demicoli now owns the fastest Group B 200m butterfly time with 2:46.17.

Neil Muscat’s times in the 100m freestyle (56.04) and 200m freestyle (2:05.09) in Berlin also went down as Malta’s best in Group C for boys.