The second meet for 2017 Malta Weightlifting Championships took place on Sunday and with numerous athletes showcasing their efforts, the competition saw 13 Maltese records fall as lifters battled it out for national titles and commonwealth rankings in mind.
Olympian Kyle Micallef was back in fine form on Sunday after dealing with some minor injuries late last year. Now aged 30, Micallef proved that age is no barrier as he lifted his best total on record in any weight category. His total of 279kg (327pts) broke the 13 year old Maltese record, while his 124kg snatch broke his own record from last year. Micallef was followed by Matthew Camilleri with a total of 237kg (287 pts) and Vlad Baldacchino with a total of 240kg (273pts).
Other impressive results from the men, who scored over 250 points, came from Anton Micallef 222kg (257pts), Michael Fava 199kg (254pts), Vitaly Moltkoff 210kg (253pts) and Andy Grech 199kg (251pts)
In the women’s senior category, the competition was split in two groups due to big number of participants. Best result of the competition came from Elisia Scicluna, despite her not being in her best form on the day. She lifted the total of 151kg (178pts). Following Scicluna, a new face in weightlifting, Christina Grima, lifted the total of 134kg (169pts) that put her in second place; she was followed by Kristen Borg with the total of 110kg (165pts).
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 133 points followed by Kyle Camilleri 125 points, Nikolai Muscat obtaining a total of 74 points and Luca Zammit 64 points respectively.
In the women’s youth category the best results of the day came from Shazel Gusman and Shelby Vassallo . Gusman lifted a total of 123kg and scoring 150 points breaking 2 national records in both youth and junior divisions in the process. Vassallo lifted a total of 111kg and scoring 132 points breaking 7 national records in both youth division. Best result in junior category came from Rebecca Fitz lifted a total of 116kg and scoring 153 points breaking 2 national records.