Charlotte Wingfield was the darling of the Maltese contingent last night as the 20-year-old sprinter chalked up the country’s first gold medal at the Iceland GSSE when rushing to the 100 metres title.

It was a fitting Day One finale for Team Malta after wrapping up commitments with seven medals – a huge injection of confidence for the rest of the squad in Reykjavik.

Wingfield stole the show at the Laugardalsvollur Stadium as she became the first Maltese athlete to win a gold medal in the 100 metres race when storming home in a wind-assisted 11.71 seconds.

Iceland’s Hafdis Sigurdardottir was second in 11.87 ahead of Cypriot Dimitra Kyriakidou who clocked 12.04 seconds.

Wingfield’s time is the fastest ever run by a Maltese woman in the discipline but cannot be ratified as a national record due to the strong windy conditions. But that did little to spoil Wingfield’s celebrations.

“It’s a great honour for me to win a gold medal for Malta in these Games,” the 20-year-old said.

“The weather is very cold here but I just stuck to my race and I won it. It was a great time... just unfortunate though that due to wind levels it cannot go down as a national record. However, I know I can achieve that in my next races.

“Now my focus is the 200m where I hope to rank among the main contenders.”

Giselle Camilleri overcame a foot injury to place second in the 10,000 metres race.

The veteran showed great resilience to cross the finish line in 38:11.64 behind Montenegro’s Sladana Perunovic who retained her title in 36:58.48. Adriana-Maria Di Guisto, of Monaco, was third in 38:52.43.

Rebecca Camilleri leapt to a silver medal in the long jump with her last effort of 6.15 metres. The gold medal was won by Hafdis Sigurdardottir, of Iceland, with a 6.50m effort as Ljiljana Matovic, of Montenegro, was third on 5.60 metres.

Kevin Moore and Reece Dimech both progressed to the men’s 400m final.

Moore clocked 50.85 seconds, the second fastest time of the semi-final series, while Dimech was fourth fastest with 52.03.

Francesca Borg and Janet Richard are also through to the women’s 400m final.

Borg completed the one-lap race in 57.99 and Richard followed in 59.51.

In the 800 metres final, Matthew Crocker placed ninth in 2:01.65, just ahead of Neil Brimmer who stopped the watch on 2:06.42.

Cyprus Amine Khadiri took gold in one minute 56.72 seconds.

Medals table