Maltese swim sensation Sasha Gatt on performing under pressure and Glasgow goals

Sasha Gatt unsurprisingly smiles when telling Generation Glasgow about her homeland, where it was “completely natural” to be placed in the water from a young age given they were “surrounded by the sea.”

“My parents thought it was important I learned to swim and they put me into sports at around the age of three, before I started competitively around the age of seven,” says the 20-year-old two-time Olympic swimmer and Glasgow 2026 qualifier.

“I won my first international medal at 12 and broke my first national record at 13, so it (progress) was all quite sudden!”

There was also a dramatic shift in the level of attention she received in and out of the water around this time, as news of the talented teenager’s potential spread across her nation. She was though in many ways ready for that moment, with Gatt admitting she had been extremely determined since her formative years.

“I was always very competitive,” she says with a knowing smile. “I was going to get my hand on the wall first, it was very ‘in me’ to try and win a race.

“Breaking my first national record had quite a big impact on swimming in Malta because I was so young and we also don't have too many swimmers that are specialised in distance events, so it was very surprising to see.”

Two years after setting her first landmark time Gatt would qualify for the Olympic Games and at the age of 16, she contested the Women’s 1500m Freestyle event at Tokyo 2020.

“I was extremely young, but it was a dream come true, because every athlete's dream is go to the Olympics,” said the swimmer, before admitting that after her rapid rise, she found the following years much tougher.

“There’s pressure, obviously, because all eyes are on you. People always ask, how will Sasha do? Will she break a record? Will she rank higher than usual?

Gatt continues; “it isn’t easy, but at the same time I’ve now learned to carry it with pride.”

It took her time to adapt though and were it not for her dedication and determination to fight on through challenges, she may have ended her career soon after her Olympic debut.

“Unfortunately, after that (Tokyo 2020), I had a three-year plateau, which was really hard because I was going to training every day and doing all the right things, but my times weren’t improving whatsoever,” Gatt recalls.

“I had mostly mental struggles, because you're seeing everyone around you improving and you were once at the top of your game, but now you go to compete and you're like, nobody.

“It was really difficult on me, mostly mentally and I saw a psychologist, which actually really helped, but the support from my coach (Catalin Stan) and parents was so important too.”

Gatt admits she was “at the point of stopping” after what the swimmer describes as a “big setback,” but Gatt stubbornly fought on and qualified for Paris 2024.

“I was 19-years-old and after the journey I’d been on, becoming a two-time Olympian at that age was a very, very big feat for me and a big relief,” she says.

Given Malta’s lack of historic swimming success at major event’s Gatt’s idols hail from other shores, such as USA and nine-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky, with Italy’s Simona Quadarella and Federica Pellegrini also cited.

Olympic, World and Commonwealth medallist Lani Pallister is another distance specialist she admires and she could face the Australian come Glasgow 2026.

“The Commonwealth Games are quite a big thing in Malta and I’ve never been before, but I’ve now qualified for the first time which is a great achievement for me,” she says.

“There will be big countries, like Australia, Canada and many others, so I’m really excited, but there’s also a sense of nervousness at the same time.

“I have a checklist that I want to achieve in my career and the Commonwealth Games is on that, so I'm very happy to go, be there and represent Malta once again.”

While performances in the pool are of critical importance to Gatt, the swimmer has recently adopted a wider mission, one which for her arguably matters more than medals.

“I always aspire to teach the younger generation to hopefully be here one day as well, because we do have a lot of young swimmers that are rising stars, but they need to learn to put the hard work in and enjoy it at the same time,” states Malta’s double Olympian.

“Unfortunately, I kind of went through a phase where I removed that (joy) completely from my swimming and that's why I didn't improve for a while, but mentally I showed a lot of resilience through hard work.

Gatt continues; “training consistently every single day is very important and it's not about how much, because you could be tired every day, it’s sometimes just important to show up.

“It really shows how much as an athlete you want to succeed and that has always been instilled in me so I just want to go out there, continue to make my country proud and inspire some of those coming through to hopefully be here with me one day soon.”

To learn how you can purchase tickets for swimming - or other sports - at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, which run from 23 July to 2 August, CLICK HERE.