Malta’s weightlifting organised the last local competition for this year, national championships. These championships saw both male and female athletes from all age groups break personal best lifts and National records. Rylee Borg had an excellent performance in the cadet category. Borg managed to get 131 points which earned him the top place in his category followed by Kyle Camilleri and Nicolai Muscat. Shelby Vassallo lifted a total of 105kg, winning the under 15 and under 17 title for the girls.
Kieran Mifsud put on a great show for all who attended on his first competitive competition back since his year off due to injuries. He went six for six, successfully lifting all six attempts for the snatch and clean and jerk ending with an impressive total of 253kg. He won the under 17 and under 20 title for the +94kg category, as well as the senior title for the 105kg category. Mifsud set 17 new national records in this single meet in both the junior and senior categories, showing he’s back even better than before and ready to continue where he left off last year.
Another youngster, Owen Bugeja, also had an excellent performance. Bugeja won the 94kg category for the under 17 and the under 20’s and also managed to place second overall in the same weight category in the senior group. Andy Grech won the 77kg category for the under 20’s with a total of 182kg, while Rebecca Fitz won the under 20 title in the 63kg category with a total of 106kg which was good enough to break 2 national records.
The women’s senior competition saw its best result from Yasmin Zammit Stevens who, despite only lifting two out of the six lifts, managed the highest total of the day with 159kg. Zammit Stevens also broke her own clean and jerk national record in the 69kg category making this her 30th national record for 2016. Elisia Scicluna won the +75kg category with a total of 151kg, while Jessica Ghigo won the 75kg category with a total of 142kg. The 53kg category was won by Kristen Borg who lifted a total of 110kg.
Michael Fava won the men’s senior 77kg category lifting a total of 188kg, while Vlad Baldacchino earned his 1st place in the 94kg category with a total of 230kg. However, the best results from the men’s senior competition came from Matthew Camilleri who won the 85kg category lifting a personal best total of 239kg.
On Friday the 25th of November, a team of six male and two female lifters will fly to London to participate in a tournament.