Maltese runner Jared Micallef secured victory in the 800m at the recent Balkan Senior Athletics Championships in Volos, Greece.

Jared, 28, completed the two-lap race in a time of 1:46.93, finishing first out of the seven runners in his category.

Turkiye’s Ömer Faruk Bozdağ came in second, while Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Abedin Mujezinović finished third.

This was Malta's first ever gold medal at the Balkan Senior Championships since joining the athletics event back in 2021.

In the same event, Isaac Bonnici finished third but set a new Under-23 national record with a time of 1:51.82.

And in other achievements in local athletics last weekend, the pole vault produced a new national benchmark at a competition in Marsa as Nicolai Bonello cleared 4.86m, narrowly missing 4.91m on his attempts.

Ella Borg Degiorgio also set a new Under-16 national best with a 3.01m clearance. 

On the track, Ben Salnitro clocked 14.04s in the 110m hurdles to set a new Under-20 national record and secure qualification for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships. 

Elsewhere, at the Track Nights event in Vienna, Gabriel Farrugia improved the Under-20 national 5000m record to 14:31, while Dillon Cassar won his heat and delivered a personal best of 14:28.