Last weekend, Western Australia became the first state to hold a state championships this year. Held at Rev Barbell Club, it was a weekend of exciting lifting, with some standout performances from a few young lifters.
Weightlifting Western Australia (WWA) crowned four overall state champs:
Under 15
- Manaia Kainuku — qualifying for the national youth squad, plus overall Under 15 champion girl
- Ben La Cunza — overall U15 champion boy
Under 17
- Tanaya Quincee — overall U17 champion girl
- Oliver Saxton — overall U17 champion boy
But this wasn’t only a state champs, it was an open competition where we saw the likes of David James go after a national record snatch at 157kg — though he narrowly lost it behind — and Tara Pratt go head-to-head with Katrina Birch, and the young Ruby Carwardine take the overall females win.
It’s safe to say that David put on a bit of a show, going 141/176 for a 5/6 performance in his first ever official competition. As he edges closer to Ridge Barredo’s records, the battle is heating up and will undoubtedly be a great show come Nationals at the end of the year. (Let us know who your pick is by leaving a comment).
Ruby had a great day after a rocky start when she missed her opening snatch. But she came back strong to hit a comp PR snatch at 78kg and clean & jerk at 100kg. Ruby narrowly missed a 105kg clean & jerk by perhaps celebrating a fraction too early in the jerk. This was an 11kg PR for her total (178kg) — at just 18 years old.
Tara had a very shaky start when she missed her first two attempts in her snatch and was on the verge of bombing out. After making her third she came out and hit a big 110kg clean & jerk on her final attempt to solidify her overall ranking at the end of the day.
It’s great to see competitions running around the country now, and we are hopeful that this can continue for the rest of the year.
A big thank you to the photos taken by @cbphoto_sport
