Saturday, May 4th saw the Llanelli Weightlifting Academy hold the second tier 3 open competition at the purpose-built weightlifting academy based at Coleg Sir Gar. The event saw 49 athletes, of varying experience, compete across two male and two female categories. Llanelli Weightlifting Academy had 21 athletes enter the competition.

Group 1 was an excellent display of lifting from the newer female competitors. 10-year-old Macey Williams started the group off with personal bests in snatch and clean and jerk and the group closed with Nyarai Hector of Llanelli Weightlifting Academy surpassing all of her personal bests. Her performance qualified her for Welsh Seniors in November and Nyarai is 6kg short of the current U17 Welsh record for clean and jerk. Nyarai Hector (gold), Ester Gimblett (silver) and Pamela Cheung (bronze) were all presented their medals by Welsh Development Squad member, Luke Fletcher, of 646 Weightlifting.

Group 2 was a high-energy group with multiple female athletes fighting for a place at British Seniors. The group was a unique blend of CrossFit competitors trying their first weightlifting competition, Welsh Development Squad members, British Weightlifting Talent Transfer athletes and high level senior athletes. Bethan Watkins stole the show with a 104kg clean and jerk to break the Welsh –64kg senior record. Madaline Connelly (gold), Bethan Watkins (silver) and Catrin Jones (bronze) were all presented their medals by Llanelli Weightlifting Academy and Welsh Development Squad member, Llyr Gravell Davies.

Group 3 was an excellent development group, with many of the male athletes taking part in their first competition. 10 of the athletes in this group were from Llanelli Weightlifting Academy. The group demonstrated excellent technical skills considering how new they were to the sport and amongst them were many athletes achieving new personal bests. Charley Smith performed superbly in his first competition and received his silver medal. Xander Logan Howells bounced back to perform excellently in the clean and jerk, where he narrowly missed a new personal best. All winners received their medals from Welsh Development Squad member, Daniel Davies, of Strength Academy Wales.

The final group of the day saw another mix of athletes trying to qualify for Welsh Development Squads, Welsh Seniors and the British Championships. Luke Fletcher increased his competition total with an impressive performance. Edward Gibson and Liam Rodgers stole the show with a display of determination and technical excellence. Both athletes have since received an invite to the British Championships. Luke, Edward and Liam received their medals from Llanelli Weightlifting coach and ex-British Masters Champion and record holder, Jason Stephenson.