Thomas Sammut (Darts) and Sasha Gatt (Swimming) are the winners of December’s Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month Award.

Thomas Sammut, 15, won the youth ranking tournament organized by the Malta Darts Association, showing great consistency throughout.. He won all his matches and achieved success for the second consecutive time, having also won the tournament in November.

Meanwhile, Maltese swimmer Sasha Gatt, 19, competed at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary, setting a new national record in the 800m freestyle. Gatt clocked 8 minutes, 35.15 seconds, finishing sixth in her heat. This meant she set a new national record in the distance, as well as collecting 795 FINA (International Swimming Federation) points. This number of points is the highest ever achieved by a Maltese swimmer.

The Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month Award was presented to the winners by Matthew von Brockdorff, Managing Director and CEO of Atlas Insurance. The Malta Sports Journalists Association was represented by Administrator Stephen Azzopardi. Prior to this presentation, chess player Jack Mizzi was presented with the trophy for being one of the winners in October 2024.

This award is a joint initiative of the Malta Sports Journalists Association and Atlas Insurance. The adjudicating panel of this award takes note of all the youths’ national and international achievements of the month under review, and at the same time, it invites local sport associations and federations to send in their nominations for consideration if they feel that any of their under-21 athletes have distinguished themselves during that month. All the monthly winners are eligible for the annual award.

Nominations for this award may be sent via email to [email protected]. The rules and regulations of this award can be viewed through the link https://www.maltasportsjournalists.com/atlas-youth-athlete-of-the-month-rules-and-regulations/