The Malta weightlifting Association started the year with an exceptional showing at the first competition this past Sunday. Numerous athletes showcased their efforts, with many personal best lifts and a massive 42 total national records being broken.
The under 13 athletes were the first group to take the platform, with the best result coming from the young but impressively confident Rylee Borg. Borg finished with total of 137 points followed by Kyle Camilleri and Nikolai Muscat obtaining a total of 129 points and 77 points respectively.
In the women’s youth and juniors category the best results for the day came from Shazel Gusman. She lifted a total of 125kg and scoring 152points breaking 16 national records in both youth and junior divisions in the process. Even though stilll only a youth, Gusman managed to obtain a top 3 finish against the senior competitors on the day. She was followed by Rebecca Fitz lifting 113kg and breaking 5 national records and Shelby Vassallo with the total of 98kg breaking another 5 national records.
Yazmin Zammit Stevens managed the best result for the women’s senior division, lifting competition best of 170kg, scoring 218 points setting another 3 national records. Zammit Stevens was followed by an increasingly improving Elisia Scicluna with the total of 156kg and a score of 185 points. Scicluna also managed write her name in the national records list for the first time with an impressive 5 total national records.
The best showing of the day came from the youngster Kieran Mifsud lifting the biggest total ever recorded in Malta with a total of 280kg, Mifsud, still only a junior athlete, finished with a 125kg snatch and 155kg in the clean and Jerk. He also managed to set 8 new national records with 310 points to his name, an impressive 24 point improvement on his previous competition. He was followed by Andy Grech with the total of 198kg and 250 points, and Ryan Degiorgio lifted 149kg and a score of 196points.
The men’s seniors first place was won again by the 17 year old Kieran Mifsud, followed by Kyle Micallef lifting the total of 260kg and scoring 306 points and Matthew Camilleri with the total of 242kg and a score of 291points.
Other impressive results came from Connor Buttigieg (214kg), Michael Fava (198kg) and Maxims Dobrovolskis (192kg).
This competition was very important for the final selection of the European Small nations in San Marino and the European senior Championships in Croatia.