British Junior & U23 Championships Day 1

Day 1 of the British Junior and U23 Championships saw the men’s 56kg, 62kg, 69kg and 77kg groups along with the women’s 48kg, 53kg, 58kg and 63kg groups take to the stage to fight for the title of the British junior champion.

Luca Michael, Mohez Khan and Mohamed Al-Harthy were all crowned British Champions in group one to start the weekend, 21-year-old Luca from Oaklands Weight Lifting Club also set a new British record with a 112kg clean and jerk.

Next up was the women’s 48kg and 53kg groups, Aureila Liu hit an impressive 138kg total, taking the title for the U23’s after Jennifer Tong missed all three snatch attempts in the W53. Kristine Santos was also crowned U23 British champion along with Bethan Roberts and Charley Craig, who both  took gold for the juniors.

Men’s 69kg class were up next, where the bar started at 65kg for the snatch. Bronze medallist Toby McCarthy was one of the athletes to make his debut on the British Junior platform and finished the competition with a 200kg total. Joe Fenney took 2nd and 18-year-old Michael Farmer won gold for the juniors with an impressive 227kg total. Over in the U23 M69kg, British Senior Championships fourth place finisher Hakeem Babalola took the British U23 title.

The fourth group of the day was the women’s 58kg class. The battle between British Senior Champion Fraer Morrow and Amber Sheppard was set to be a close one as Amber came out to the platform at an opening 70kg successful snatch, followed by reigning champion Fraer with a loaded bar of 71kg. Fraer narrowly missed all three snatch attempts as Amber went on to finish the competition with a 70kg snatch and a 90kg clean and jerk, taking the gold for the women’s 58kg juniors. In the U23 W58 class, British Senior champion Laura Hewitt put on a remarkable performance before being crowed junior champion.

In the men’s 77kg class, Laurence Oakden cleared one snatch lift of 105kg but made 2 out of 3 attempts on the clean and jerk, finishing on 122kg, claiming the title for the juniors. U23 lifter Karl McClean also won gold with a 263kg total.

To round off day 1, the women’s 63kg class took to the stage. After 5 successful lifts, Leeds City lifter Josephine Dobson was crowed British junior champion with a total of 143kg, whilst over in the U23 competition, British senior silver medallist, Grace Lilly won gold after an impressive power snatch and power clean performance and a total of 184kg.