Weightlifting Wales is proud to highlight the outstanding efforts of development squad athlete Thomas Duggan, who was selected by British Weightlifting to compete at the 2025 European Youth & U15 Weightlifting Championships held over in Madrid.

Representing Great Britain in the U17 Men’s 56 kg category, Tom competed on the first day of the competition (Group 3) and was the first member of the GB squad to step out to the platform. In late afternoon of Wednesday 23rd July at the competition venue, in the Cerro Almodovar Sports Center, all was ready for Tom to showcase his tremendous talent on the European stage. Amid fierce competition against 9 fellow high quality lifters from across Europe in this category, Tom performed really well to earn himself an 8th place position overall. His results went as follows:

SNATCH

• Attempt 1: 80kg successful lift
• Attempt 2: 83kg unsuccessful lift
• Attempt 3: 84kg unsuccessful lift

CLEAN AND JERK

• Attempt 1: 99kg successful lift
• Attempt 2: 102kg successful lift
• Attempt 3: 105kg unsuccessful lift

TOTAL - 182kg

We offer our sincere congratulations to Thomas Duggan for competing with determination and pride at such a prestigious event. A special thank you British Weightlifting and their coaching team, as well as to our funding partner, the National Lottery who's support has been instrumental in helping to develop Tom through the years within our performance pathway setup. Weightlifting Wales looks forward to Tom's continued progress and in celebrating his future successes. Diolch, Tom - here’s to more personal bests broken and more selections on the international stage!

In the week leading up to the Championships, we were also proud to see another one of our development squad athletes, Llewellyn Waits, selected by British Weightlifting as part of a GB squad to participate in the European Weightlifting Federation (EWF) Youth training camp held at Spain's National Weightlifting Training Facility in Madrid. A couple of days for Llewellyn in this camp provided him with international-standard setting training and exposure to continental coaching insights. National Head Coach Gareth Evans formed part of the GB coaching team for this camp which was another great coaching experience for Gareth.

Last Wednesday (23rd June) marked exactly one year to go till the start of the 2026 Commonwealth Games which is taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.

To mark such a milestone, Team Wales gathered everyone for an official celebratory event at The Parkgate Hotel, Cardiff, with Welsh weightlifters invited to come along and play a visible role in the occasion. The event was hosted by Team Wales’ Head of Engagement, Cathy Williams, with the newly appointed Chef de Mission, Gethin Jones, formally marking the “one year to go” alongside fellow attendees consisting of athletes and officials from across the different 11 competing sports/governing bodies. Weightlifting Wales athletes were invited to represent the sport on such an occassion, highlighting it's inclusion in the Games’ schedule. Weightlifting – alongside Para Powerlifting – remains on the programme, with it being one of the 11 sports Team Wales has already started preparing for, underlining emphasis on mobility and readiness across disciplines in a "lighter and leaner" Games.

As part of the event, there were numerous high profile athletes who took to the stage from the different sports to share their inspiring stories as part of a set of panelists for the day. We were delighted that to represent Weightlifting and Para Powerlifting was current Weightlifting Wales national squad athlete and rising star, Madaline Connelly.

Weightlifting Wales congratulates Gethin Jones and his Team Wales counterparts for leading off this crucial countdown for the Games. Special thanks to our athletes selected to attend the celebration - they carried the sport’s spirit with pride. The countdown is officially underway!