Maltese triathlete Keith Galea says he has won the National Triathlon Championship for an 11th time, surpassing the ten-title record previously held by his brother.
Galea shared the achievement directly with Mela Bonġu, describing it as the final major local record he had wanted to break.
“It was the only record I had left to break,” he said.
Public reporting confirms that Galea reached his tenth National Triathlon title in 2024. Records published by Birkirkara St Joseph Sports Club list his brother, Dermot Galea, as having won ten National Triathlon titles between 1998 and 2011.
A Record That Stayed In The Family
The new milestone carries an unusual family connection.
According to Keith, his brother’s tenth title in 2011 established the previous record. Keith says he then set himself the long-term target of reaching 11 championships, regardless of how difficult the challenge became.
“I have been chasing this achievement for 15 years,” he told Mela Bonġu.
Rather than competing against an unfamiliar name from the record books, Galea was pursuing a standard established within his own family.
The result means the men’s National Triathlon Championship record has moved from one Galea brother to the other, according to Keith’s account of the latest victory.
An Ambition That Began At Nine
Galea said the story began well before he won his first championship.
He recalled watching his brother claim the first of his ten titles in 1998. The following day, Keith—then nine years old—attended his first training session.
Even at that age, he said his goal was to become Malta’s National Triathlon Champion one day.
That childhood ambition eventually developed into a career containing repeated championship victories. After reaching the ten-title mark himself, one target remained: moving beyond the family record.
Twenty-Nine Multisport National Titles
Galea also says the latest victory has taken his total number of national titles across different multisport disciplines to 29.
That wider figure includes more than standard-distance triathlon and reflects his participation across several forms of multisport competition during his career.
The 11th National Triathlon Championship, however, appears to carry particular meaning because of the length of the pursuit and its connection to his brother’s career.
For Galea, the achievement closes a target he says he first set in 2011—and a sporting journey that began the morning after his brother’s first championship victory.
