This weekend three Maltese athletes had a very successful competition at the 11th Vladan Milhajovic Weightlifting Tournament in Serbia, bringing home 2 Gold medals and 1 Silver.
The team consisting of Yazmin Zammit Stevens, Elisia Scicluna and Vlad Baldacchino took the platform on Saturday alongside athletes from Serbia, Bosnia, Spain, Bulgaria, Georgia, Slovenia and Romania.
Scicluna (-90kg) was unfortunately suffering from a minor injury prior to this meet and therefore decided not to risk any further damage with maximum lifts. She finished with a comfortable 72kg snatch and 92kg clean and jerk. Despite the lower lifts she still managed to finish off in first place in her weight category.
Zammit Stevens (-75kg) also sweeped Gold in the tournament in her weight class. Even though she weighed in the lightest at 69.7kg, she outlifted her competitors with an 80kg snatch and 99kg clean and jerk, totaling at 179kg and breaking 1 national record in the process. Yazmin is currently in preparation for the upcoming Mediterranean Games set to take place in Tarragona in June.
In the men’s group, Vlad Baldacchino (-94kg) had a stellar performance, breaking his own national record in the snatch with 128kg, and also beating his own clean and jerk competition best by 6kg with a 158kg clean and jerk. He totalled at 286kg which was in turn another national record in the 94kg category. He claimed a silver medal, behind an incredibly tough competitor from Georgia. Baldacchino is on the right track going towards the European U23 Championships later on this year.
Alongside, President of Malta weightlifting Jesmond Caruana was selected for the duty of president of the Jury during this competition of such importance as results are valid for the International weightlifting (IWF) ranking.
Zammit Stevens will be leaving for a 3 week training camp in Rome next week. She will be training with the Italian national team at their National Olympic training venue in Rome as part of her preparation for the Mediterranean Games.
Thanks to Malta Olympic Committee, SportMalta and Milan Mihajlovic President of Serbia for their support.