Gabriel Farrugia (Athletics) and Xavier Rizzo (Snooker) are the winners of January’s Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month Award.

Gabriel Farrugia, one of Malta’s most promising long distance runners representing Żurrieq AC, secured the 10km National Championship title in January after delivering an outstanding performance at Ta’ Qali. Farrugia clocked an impressive time of 30 minutes and 19 seconds, establishing a new Under 23 national record.

The young athlete has been dominating the national road running scene throughout the 2025-2026 season, consistently producing top level performances and confirming his status as one of Malta’s leading endurance runners.

Meanwhile, Maltese snooker player Xavier Rizzo progressed to the last 16 of the World Junior Snooker Championships that were held in Sofia, Bulgaria. Rizzo enjoyed an excellent start to the tournament, topping his group to secure qualification to the knockout stages before continuing his positive run on the international stage.

His performances in Bulgaria highlight his growing reputation as one of Malta’s most promising young snooker talents.

The Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month Award for January was presented to the winners by Matthew von Brockdorff, Managing Director and CEO of Atlas Insurance, together with Robert Micallef, Chief Commercial Officer of Atlas Insurance. The Malta Sports Journalists Association was represented by President Antvin Monseigneur.

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’ achievements of the month under review and at the same time 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 the award can be viewed on the website www.maltasportsjournalists.com.