Maltese Young Triathletes at International Training Camp in Serbia

​A team of six Maltese young triathletes have recently attended an international triathlon training camp organised by the International Triathlon Union in Serbia. The team was composed of Emilia Vella, Pia Zammit, Callie Hock, Pavel Dalli, Gabriel Bongailas and Sean Darmanin, all hailed from the Malta Triathlon Federation’s own nursery, the MYTA – Malta Youth Triathlon Academy, which is a joint project between the Federation, SportMalta and the European Triathlon Union. The athletes were accompanied by Triathlon Level 2 Coaches Maria Mizzi and Barry Farrugia. The training camp was split between the town of Kragujevac and the capital city of Belgrade.

​During this training camp, the Maltese Athletes had the opportunity to train under the supervision of some of the best youth triathlon coaches in the continent together with other young athletes coming not only from the Balkans and East Europe but also from many other countries where triathlon is developing. The Maltese coaches were also involved in delivering training sessions to the whole group of athletes during the camp.
 
The training camp was at perfect timing since practically all of these six athletes will be taking the big step and start racing together with the ‘adult’ triathletes by the end of this season. For most of them, this was the first international experience so they could compare their levels with those of their foreign peers.
 
‘Although we have been placing young athletes in these international training camps for the past 6 years, this is the first time we have such a solid team of 6 athletes and 2 coaches’ said Triathlon Malta’s president, Cyprian Dalli. ‘We are finally reaping the invest we made in the MYTA academy and now the kids have become of age and are leading the way in the development of Triathlon in Malta. We are blessed with a small but fantastic team of coaches who direct these youngsters in the right direction and ensure their progress and development is steady yet sustainable. We are also greatly indebted to SportMalta through who’s programme these athletes train for the continuous support shown towards our project and the development of our young talents. We are also very grateful for these opportunities to the European Triathlon Union and the International Triathlon Union, especially the Development Committee’.
 
As a conclusion to this camp, the Maltese athletes took part in an international Aquathlon race in Belgrade. The Maltese posted some very positive performances, with practically all them placing in the first ten, topped by Sean Darmanin’s second place overall in the Males competition.