The Weightlifting Malta Open that took place this last Sunday proved to be a massive success, with numerous athletes participating and once again more national records being broken.
The competition took off with the youngest lifters who made sure to impress everyone who attended the event. The cadets, despite their age, showed much experience through their lifting with the first and second place only being separated by 1 point. Ryle Borg was named champion with a total of 73kg which corresponded to 133 point. Kyle Camilleri followed Borg with a total of 56kg and 132 points. Nikolai Muscat and Luca Zammit placed 3rd and 4th respectively, both performing extremely well. Other participants included first time lifter from #OnTheMove SportMalta programme, Blake Attard and also Tristian Zammit.
 
Shelby Vassallo was named the U15 girls champion and consequently even the U17 female runner up with an impressive total of 113kg. Shazel Gusman won both the U17 and U20 female category with a total of 126kg, breaking 2 national records in the process. Rebecca Fitz followed Shazel in the U20 category with a total of 112kg.
 
The second competition of the day saw the senior female lifters taking the platform with a total of 8 athletes participating. Yasmin Zammit Stevens was named Malta Open Champion for the second consecutive year where she lifted a total of 171kg with a corresponding 215 points.
Finally, the menâs group took off with a total of 17 participants taking part. The U20 category was won by elite athlete Kieran Mifsud who, despite struggling with a slight knee issue, finished with impressive 283kg total (309 points). Mifsud even managed to add 4 more national records to his name in both the junior and senior 105kg category with his 158kg clean and jerk and 283kg total. Andy Grech followed Mifsud in 2nd place with an incredible improvement from his previous best. He showed confidence and consistency in his lifts, finishing with a total of 210kg.
Kyle Micallef, won the Senior title with a 275kg total and a corresponding 320 points. Following Micallef was Kieran Mifsud in 2nd and Vlad Baldacchino in 3rd with a total effort of 237kg. Rodmar Pulis managed to place 4th on his first competition back since his shoulder surgery, while Andre Buhagiar (5th place) broke an 11 year old record in the 69kg category with a snatch of 93kg.
