The competition took place on the 20^th of May in the Pembrokeshire Sports Village and saw a total of 51 athletes take to the platform. The Weightlifting portion of the competition was ranked using the Sinclair formula rather than the traditional total ranking system; this the first time this ranking system has been used in recent times for a Welsh Open event and was implemented to allow for inter-bodyweight category competition. The event also included youth age group categories (U’12’s, U’15’s and U’17’s) allowing youth lifters to compete against other lifters within the same age bracket.

Para-Powerlifters Evelyn Thomas of SAW and Scott Taylor of South Pembs Weightlifting Club launched the competition as the first group of the day. Youth lifter Evelyn secured three good lifts with a final Bench Press of 62kg, a 2kg improvement on her performance in the Welsh Open earlier in 2023, whilst Scott matched his in-competition personal best of 140kg Bench Press on his second attempt, just missing out on 145kg on his third attempt. Well done to both lifters on their solid performances.

The next group was the first women’s weightlifting group of the day, a combination of youth and senior athletes. Congratulations to Anni Williams, Alys Baynham, Gwennan Edwards and Poppy James who all put on a wonderful technical display in the U’12’s category. Our medallists of the U’15 category put on a great performance, with the bronze position going to Cari Adams with 88.79 Sinclair points, silver position awarded to Priya Lilley with 101.72 Sinclair points - both lifters representing Coleg Sir Gar Llanelli - and the gold medal went to Roxi Hayward of SA1 with 111.89 Sinclair points. The senior category was a tight competition with less than 3 Sinclair points between 4^th and 2^nd position. Congratulations to Elin-Haf Tossel of Club 646 who bronze with 140.93 Sinclair points, Luned Jones who took the silver medal with 142.79 Sinclair points and Manon Johnston, of Evolve Weightlifting Club who took the gold medal with 160.46 Sinclair points. Well done to all!

In the third group, the youngest group member, U’12 lifter Fletcher Watkins had a brilliant day of lifting and finished with a Sinclair total of 128.69, lifting 85kg in total. In the U’15’s boys’ category, Theo Graham, from Evolve Weightlifting Club, solidified a bronze position, a notable performance from Tom Duggan of CFV Performance who placed second whilst setting six Welsh U’15 and U’17 records in the –49kg class in the Snatch, Clean and Jerk, and the total. First place was awarded to Irish lifter Callum Quinn who tallied up 241.79 Sinclair points. The senior podium was split by fractions of a point; Adam Tipping placed third behind Lewis Wong with less than 1 Sinclair point separating the two of them. First place was awarded to James Wappett with 256.59 Sinclair points after a competitive back-and-forth battle in the Snatch and Clean and Jerk with Lewis Wong who took second place with 2141.13 Sinclair points.

The second women’s Weightlifting group saw Olivia Lennon place third with 179.04 Sinclair points, Tracy Rosser of SA1 with 191.28 Sinclair points and Helen Qualters of Coleg Sir Gar Llanelli taking the lead and the gold medal with 194.50 Sinclair points, congratulations to all lifters in this group with a special acknowledgement to youth lifter Grace Morris of SAW, the youngest competitor of the group who had an excellent day, with 6/6 successful lifts, personal bests in both the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk, and a huge 16kg improvement on her overall total since the Welsh Open earlier this year, as well as some new Welsh u’17 records!

Our final men’s group of the day saw a close battle for a spot on the podium with just 3 points between 4^th and 2^nd position. Every lifter put up a huge fight, with Marcus Harrison coming in third position with 317.97 Sinclair points, Greg Stumbles secured second place with 319.93 Sinclair points and first place was awarded to two-time Commonwealth Games athlete and Team England lifter, Jaswant Shergill with 334.77 Sinclair points. Weightlifting Wales would like to congratulate all lifters in this group.

The final group of the day saw the youngest lifter of the group, Lotty Whalley of SAW take the bronze medal position with 216.24 Sinclair points. Bethan Watkins achieved 223.58 Sinclair points and a silver medal, and with less than 1 point lead to take the win, was SAW lifter Chloe Hood with 224.14 Sinclair points and a huge 181kg total, as well as some new Welsh U’23 records in the Clean and Jerk and the total. Congratulations to all lifters in this group!

Weightlifting Wales would like to send a huge congratulations to all lifters and coaches for bringing such a competitive atmosphere to the day and a massive thank you to all of our hard-working volunteers, without whom such competitions would not take place. We look forward to seeing you all compete again soon, the next WW competition in the 2023 calendar is the Welsh Senior Championships and Welsh Open in December.

Until then, happy lifting!