XIX International Junior Battle

A team of developing weightlifters aged 14 to 23 travelled to Austria from 16th June to 19th June to compete for Wales at the XIX International Junior Battle 2022.

This two-day competition started on Friday 17th June, with Grace Morris winning the gold medal on her international debut and breaking three U'15 Welsh records in the process. Grace hit a 58kg personal best in the Snatch and an 80kg personal best in the Clean & Jerk, breaking the Welsh U'15 total record by 17kg!

Millie Lerwill was up next and secured a silver medal at her first international competition, hitting a 52kg Snatch and 66kg in the Clean & Jerk. This is an 8kg increase in her total since the Welsh Age Groups in February 2022.

Then Molly Greenwood finished day one with another gold medal for Wales in the U'23 category, hitting 73kg in the Snatch and a personal best Clean & Jerk at 91kg. Molly also won 2^nd place for overall Sinclair total in the women’s groups. All in her first international competition!

Day two started with Wales taking 1^st and 2^nd in the U'17 group, Daniel Davies and Thomas Hughes. Thomas secured the silver medal by hitting a personal best Snatch of 78kg and 112kg Clean & Jerk, on his international debut.

Daniel Davies took away the gold medal and broke three U'17 Welsh records, hitting 92kg Snatch for a personal best and 121kg Clean & Jerk personal best, giving him a 213kg total.

The U'20 category was up next with Cian Green and Ben Foggo securing silver and bronze respectively for Wales. Cian Green secured the silver medal on his international debut, hitting 100kg Snatch, and 135kg Clean & Jerk for a 5kg personal record.

Ben Foggo secured the bronze medal in the same age group and broke an U'20 Welsh record in the Clean & Jerk. Ben hit 88kg Snatch and 112kg Clean & Jerk personal best.

The final group of the day was the U'23 group which was split into two. Garin Beams secured the silver medal on his international debut hitting 104kg personal best in the Snatch and 118kg Clean & Jerk, making a personal best total of 222kg.

Harry Nelms also secured a silver medal on his international debut in Austria, hitting a 131kg Snatch personal best and a 168kg Clean & Jerk PB making a huge total of 299kg. All of which are British and Welsh U'23 records. Harry also won 3^rdplace for overall Sinclair totals in the men’s groups.

These outstanding performances secured 2^nd place for Team Wales at the International Junior Battle 2022.

Weightlifting Wales would like to congratulate all the athletes on their performances, along with their hard work and dedication in the lead-up to the event. We would also like to thank the coaching team Christie Williams, Rhodri Beynon, Calum Stronach and Ania Negele as well as all the club coaches back at home for giving up their time to support the athletes day in, day out.

Cymru am byth.