Malta won the gold medal in the team event at the 11th Triathlon Championships of the Small States of Europe (TCSSE), held for the first time in Liechtenstein last Saturday.
In the individual race, staged on Sunday, Mark Zammit and Dermot Galea took silver and bronze respectively, while Danica Bonello Spiteri and Johanna Calleja finished fifth and eighth respectively in the women’s category.
Saturday turned out to be a glorious one for Team Malta. Seven teams, two from Liechtenstein, two from Luxembourg and one each from Cyprus, San Marino and Malta, lined up for the start of the race which consisted of a 200m swim, a two-kilometre bike ride and a one-kilometre run.
Each team was composed of three athletes, including a female who tackled the middle leg.
Every member had to complete the whole race before tagging his/her partner. The Maltese trio, consisting of Zammit, Bonello Spiteri and Galea, topped the timesheets in 36 minutes 41 seconds, just 19 seconds ahead of second-placed Luxembourg. Liechtenstein were third, 92 seconds adrift of the winners.
Sunday’s individual race was over the sprint distance (750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run). Here, Luxembourg’s 14-year-old triathlon wonderkid, Max Biewer, underlined his immense potential by winning the race in 59 minutes 17 seconds. Zammit was second in 1:00.43 seconds and Galea third in 1:01.27.
Although in past editions of these championships both Zammit and Galea had won a silver medal, this was the first time that two Maltese athletes made it to the podium in the same event.
Bonello Spiteri and Calleja found the going tough in the women’s triathlon. In past editions, Bonello Spiteri won a total of three medals, her most recent success being the gold she clinched at last year’s TCSSE in Malta.
Liechtenstein’s Nicole Klingler, a former U-23 European duathlon champion and a bronze medallist at the 2008 Long Distance Triathlon European Championship, was first in 1hr 05mins 37secs. Second place went to San Marino’s Melissa Mularoni (1hr 07m 29s) with Luxembourg’s Diane Chelius, winner of the first two TCSSE editions in Malta, third in 1:08.03.
Bonello Spiteri’s time of 1:11.19 secs placed her fifth, just four seconds behind fourth-placed Myriam Reuland, of Luxembourg.
Calleja did well to finish eighth in her international debut after clocking 1:17.20, a personal best.
The participation of the Maltese triathletes in these championships was made possible thanks to the backing of the Maltese Olympic Committee and Air Malta.