15-Year Old Sasha Gatt Breaks Maltese National Record in 400 Free by 5 Seconds

Swimming at the 4th monthly long course time trial being hosted by the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta, 15-year old Sasha Gatt on Saturday swam 4:23.33 in the 400 meter free. That time broke her own Malta National Records (open and age group) of 4:28.17 set in October of last year.

Split Comparison:

Gatt’s improving endurance showed up at the end of her latest record-breaking swim, where her last 100 meter split was faster than her third 100 meter split and almost 2 seconds better than she was to close her last record-setting swim.

The time for Gatt, who trains with Sirens ASC, follows a 17:00.28 that she swam in the 1500 free in December. That time, in only her 4th official record of the swim, sneaks a second-and-a-half under the Olympic “B” standard, which made her the first Maltese swimmer to obtain an Olympic standard.

The Republic of Malta is a small island nation off the coast of Sicily with a land area of just 122 square miles and a population of just over half-a-million. The country sent 4 swimmers to the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, though Gatt was not among them. The country’s highest finisher at those World Championships was Mya Azzopardi, who placed 32nd out of 36 finishers in the women’s 200 IM in a time of 2:25.24.

The country usually relies on the IOC Universality program to send one male and one female swimmer to the Olympic Games. In Rio, Andrew Chetcuti finished 51st in the men’s 100 free in 51.37 while Nicola Muscat finished 53rd in the women’s 50 free in 26.60.

Other highlights from the meet included a pair of best times from THomas Wareing, posting 1:01.19 in the 100 fly and 2:09.75 in the 200 IM. That time in the 200 IM leaves the 21-year old about a second and a half from the National Record of 2:08.20 set by Michael Umnov in 2016.