BUCS Championships 2022 round up

On the 12 April 2022, students from all over the UK travelled to St Mary’s university in Twickenham to compete in the British University and College Championships.

The day was an incredible display of talent on the platform, as we saw multiple British records broken, close battles for medals, and great comradery between university teams

The day kicked off with lighter bodyweight categories taking to the platforms.

 

On the blue platform, in the Women’s 45kg category, Alex McKay of Dundee University took gold after totalling 100kg. Representing UCL, Weng Sun Lao totalled 115 for gold in the Women’s 49kg class, followed by Nurul Syuhaidah Ahman, who took silver.

In the Women’s 55kg class, Charlotte Boulanger of Nottingham Trent took first place after totalling 140kg, followed by Nikole Roberts in second place, and Harriet Renkin in third.

 

On the red platform, the day began with battle of the Bens when Bangor’s Ben Foggo went up against Brighton’s Ben Hickling in the Men’s 61kg class. Hickling managed to secure top spot after totalling 202kg, and Foggo secured silver with a 194kg total.

In the Men’s 67kg class, Loughborough’s Yegeun Ji took gold after a great day in the office, going 6 for 6 and totalling 209kg. Birmingham’s Hugo McNeil took silver, and Dundee’s Lewis Angus took bronze.

 

In the Women’s 59kg class, Katarzyna Moszyk took gold for Edinburgh Napier after totalling 138kg. Bournemouth’s Kate Rattley secured silver, and UCL’s Emilia Nygaard Parsons took bronze.

 In the Women’s 64kg class, Loughborough’s Molly Greenwood put on an outstanding show to secure gold, following a 165kg total. Birmingham’s Catrin Jones secured silver, and UAL’s Michaela Forgacova made third place.

 

The Men’s 73kg class was a battle for top spot, with only one kilo separating first and second place. Bangor’s Garin Beams managed to secure gold after totalling 218kg, closely followed by Liverpool’s Wang Jianghaonan 217kg total. Bath’s Joseph Bryant came in third place with a total of 206kg.

 The Men’s 81kg class proved to be popular, and we saw 20 lifters take to the platform fighting for top spots. Middlesex’s Lee Salter secured bronze, and St Andrew’s Emil Stewart-Nerona took silver. Loughborough gained another gold medal when Chris Murray secured the gold after a staggering 314kg total. Murray’s best snatch was 137kg, and the crowd fell silent as he followed by breaking a British Senior record clean and jerk at 177kg.

 

The Women’s 71kg class was close competition, with 2kg separating first and third place. Staffordshire’s Szilvia Kiraly secured the bronze medal after totalling 160kg, Strathclyde’s Emma Bruce added a kilo to this total to secure silver. Loughborough’s Anushka Bovill added another kilo to total 162kg and secure the top spot.

In the Women’s 76kg class, St Andrew’s Sarah Wright took gold after totalling 143kg. Bournmouth’s Isabelle Sperry took silver, and Glasgow’s Shona McKirdy took bronze.

 

The Men’s 89kg class was an exciting watch when Stefano Cataldi took to the platform. Loughborough student and British Weight Lifting DiSE graduate Stefano went 6 for 6 and totalled 300kg for the gold medal, breaking 6 British records in the process. Cataldi’s 134kg snatch broke the British under 20, and under 23 record. The crowd watched with bated breath on his 166kg clean and squat jerk, which he made to break the British under 20, and under 23 records. This gave him his 300kg total, which broke the British under 20, and under 23 records. Loughborough’s Chris Russ took silver, followed by Allen Brindley in bronze.

More records were broken in the Men’s 96kg category, when Loughborough’s Ed Smale put on a fantastic display on the platform. Ed snatched a huge 140kg, which broke a British under 23 record, and followed with a 162kg clean and jerk. This gave him a 302kg total, which broke the British under 23 record, and secured him the top spot. 1kg separated the silver and bronze, and Nottingham’s Myren Madden came in second place, closely followed by Brunel’s Stephen Bestman.

 

In the Women’s 81kg class, UCL’s Deborah Alawode made a British Senior record total of 207kg to secure the gold medal.

In the Women’s 87kg class, Alexandra Lesayova totalled 180kg for the top spot, and Loughborough student and British Weight Lifting DiSE graduate Niamh Collins came second.

The Women’s 87+kg saw Rushan Tonge-Bobia take the gold medal for St Mary’s.

 

In the Men’s 102kg class, Westminster’s Jonathan Healey took the gold with a 257kg total, St Mary’s Thomas Farley took silver, and Edinburgh’s Euan McGuigan took bronze.

In the Men’s 109g class, UCL’s Dan Conroy took gold with a 283kg total, followed by Manchester Met’s Oliver Godwin in silver, and Loughborough’s Ben Slessor in bronze.

Only 1kg separated the top two spots in the Men’s 109+kg category. Edinburgh’a Josh Murray managed to secure the gold with a 217kg total, closely followed by UCL’s Michael Markunas, who secured silver.

Click on the buttons below to view the full results:

Female results

Male results

 

This event was the first in-person BUCS that British Weight Lifting has run, and showed an amazing standard of lifting, with some exciting up coming talent stepping out on the platform. British Weight Lifting would like to thank all of the athletes, staff, volunteers, and partners that made this event a success.

 

We are awaiting confirmation from BUCS to announce the top performing institution, this will be added as soon as we have received the information.