Malta Weightlifting made history yesterday by winning their first ever gold in mixed-team at the European Small Nation Championships held in San Marino. The team made up of male lifters Anton Micallef, Shaun Ciantar and Vlad Baldacchino together with female lifters Roberta Tabone and Yazmin Zammit Stevens managed to beat both Iceland and Cyprus who finished in 3rd and 2nd place consecutively. Monaco finished in 4th, San Marino in 5th and Luxembourg in 6th.
In the men’s group A Vlad baldacchino managed a 126 kg snatch and a 157kg clean and jerk accumulating a total of 309points while Anton Micallef lifted 112kg in the snatch and ended with 135kg in his clean and jerk 2nd giving him 295 points. Shaun Ciantar competed in the men’s group B group and managed 105kg in the snatch and 125kg in the clean and jerk which is equal to 285 points.
Roberta Tabone had an excellent showing at these championships lift by personal best lifts across the board. She managed to finish with 84kg in the snatch and 105kg in the clean and jerk resulting in 234 points.
Olympian Yazmin Zammit Stevens managed to finish in 2nd place overall for the female individual lifters just behind the lifter from Iceland. She ended with 85kg in the snatch and 102kg in the clean and jerk managing 240 points.
The total points of 1365 by the Malta team were good enough to beat both Iceland (1239 points) and Cyprus (1333 points), the two countries that have been dominating these championships in the past years. This was the first time ever Malta won gold overall for the mixed team.
The San Marino open was held in conjunction with these championships where youth lifters Rylee Borg, Kaya Inguanez and Aaliyah Gatt managed to finish in 4th place. Aaliyah managed 37kg in snatch and 50kg in the clean and jerk while Kaya managed a 39kg snatch and 48kg in the clean and jerk. Tulle Borg, who is just 15 years old, had an impressive competition finishing with PRs and 6 National Records across the board after he managed 90kg in the snatch and 112kg in the clean and jerk.
These competitions could not be possible without the help of the Malta Olympic Committee and SportMalta.