News
BWL have been working on producing a clean set of British Rankings (based on Sinclair Points which is a formula which allows lifts from lifters in different bodyweight categories to be compared) the aim is to include results from all recognised events across the United Kingdom.
The aim is to publish the British Rankings every 4 months for all athletes, Juniors and Youths
If you want to work out what you need to lift to get into the top 10, the Sinclair Formula used is:
MEN SINCLAIR = TOTAL *10^(0.784780654*LOG10(173.961/BODYWEIGHT)^2)
FEMALE SINCLAIR = TOTAL *10^(1.056683941*LOG10(125.441/BODYWEIGHT)^2)
If anyone feels that there is a mistake in the rankings please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the result you want included / changed.
Please ensure that when you enter a competition you use the same name as on your BWL Handbook and that you check that the competition organiser has spelt it correctly on the results sheet. Please also check that your date of birth and club are correct. One of the issues we have had with producing clean rankings is that we have had results, for example, for Daniel Smith but he has been entered as Daniel Smith, Dan Smith and Danny Smith for 3 different competitions.
Please click here to see the current rankings.
THERE was some top weightlifting action at the British Under-23 and Junior Championships staged at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre on April 28 2012.
Athletes from across the country journeyed to Shropshire in a bid to take gold, while several guest GB athletes were using the event to boost their Olympic preparations.
In the Male Under-20 categories, Ivybridge's Ryan Baugh won the 62kg class with a 182kg total, while Shaun Clegg (Team Manchester) was best in the 69kg class, lifting a total of 267kg.
His Team Manchester colleague Alex Collier won the 77kg class with 239kg, while Kilmarnock's Dale Cree was crowned 85kg champion with 250kg.
Caldincot lifter Jake Davies was best in the 94kg section with 245kg, while Kilmarnock's Jordan Haydon and Kyle Pearson won the 105kg and 105kg+ categories with 243kg and 273kg respectively.
In the Under-23 categories, Adam Mattiussi from St Mary's won the 69kg class with 225kg, while Gladiator's Haris Ansari lifted 205kg in the 77kg class to take the title.
St Mary's Sam Colgate won the 85kg class with 240kg, while Empire's Kris Carter was top in the 94kg class with a 257kg total.
St Birinus and GB athlete Ben Watson won the 105kg class with 305kg, while Warley's Jordan Gumbley won the 105kg+ class with 285kg.
In the women's Under-20 events, Sarah Davies from Leeds Met won the 63kg class with an impressive 153kg total, while Gladiator's Colette WIll won the 53kg class with 115kg.
Cardinal Pole's Dorothy John was named 48kg winner with 69kg, while her team-mate Kim Pham won the 58kg class with 123kg. Another Cardinal Pole lifter, Mercy Brown, won the 75kg+ category with 125kg.
In the women's Under-23 categories, Crystal Palace and GB lifter Emily Godley won the 63kg category with 183kg, while Kilmarnock's Georgina Black was top 69kg lifter with 179kg. Finally, Shila Panjavi (Stars of the Future) won the 58kg class with a total of 120kg.
A SIX-strong powerlifting team has been announced for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
The team combines youth and experience with four athletes having gone to previous Paralympic Games, and another two who are exciting new talents.
Matlock-based Anthony Peddle will go to his seventh Games in London and will lift in the 48kg category. He has been powerlifting for 20 years, and held the world record for seven years.
He will be joined by Manchester’s Jason Irving who lifted at Athens and Beijing. A 60kg lifter, Jason finished fifth in Greece in the 60kg category and sixth in China in the 56kg class. He will lift at 60kg in London.
Londoner Ali Jawad will be going to his second Games in London, and will compete in the 56kg class. The former European and World Junior Champion competed at judo prior to taking up powerlifting in 2006.
Natalie Blake from Newark will compete in the 52kg category, and was placed just outside the medals in Sydney, Athens and Beijing. She was fourth in the IPC World Championships in Malaysia in 2010.
Colchester-based Zoe Newson won the World Junior Championships in Malaysia in 2010, and will be aiming to hit form again when she competes in the 40kg category in London. She set a new European record on her way to gold in the IPC British Championships in 2011.
Finally, Londoner Paul Efayena will compete at the 2012 Paralympics in the 105kg + category. A relative newcomer to the sport, Paul has made a big impact since debuting at the 2011 UK Invitational Championships in Cardiff.
The powerlifting team was announced alongside Judo and Boccia in London in April.
ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission Craig Hunter said: “I am delighted to welcome these athletes to ParalympicsGB. It is the culmination of hard work and dedication on their part.
“From ParalympicsGB’s perspective the selection of many of these athletes is also testament to the success of BPA programmes such as our annual simulation preparation camp, our Paralympic Potential days and our Talent Transition Programme over the last four years.
“I am particularly excited because today’s selection of athletes means that we have now selected almost a third of ParalympicsGB for London, so it really feels like the team is starting to come together.”
Fiona Lothian, Team Leader for British Weight Lifting, said: “We are delighted that all four athletes who represented Great Britain in Beijing have qualified for London 2012 in addition to two new athletes.
“Our experience of the BPA preparation camps has convinced us that this will be the best place to put the finishing touches to our Games preparation. With the home crowd behind us I am convinced we can build on our recent performances to deliver good results in London.”
British Weight Lifting is pleased to announce the appointment of Sam Hayer as the England Talent Manager. Sam has previous experience as England Commonwealth Youth coach and as Great Britain Squad Coach.
Sam will be responsible for the management of the England Excel Weightlifting plan which will include:
- The management and implementation of the England Talent Pathway to optimise England's success at the Commonwealth Games.
- To oversee the establishment of an English Regional Squad system.
- Assist and support Regional Coaches.
British Weight Lifting is working with Sport England and the BWL Performance Programme to develop a clearly defined and mapped talent development pathway between the grassroots community and the BWL Performance Program to ensure clarity on athletes, resources, support available and talent development activity at each level of the pathway.
In order to deliver a seamless talent pathway in England, Sam will be liaising closely with BWL Performance Officer, Dan Wagner.
“What a great opportunity for me to work with our finest young athletes. From what I have seen from the recent competitions we have a very exciting future ahead of us,” said Hayer.
“A big well done is in order to all the club coaches in nurturing those talented athletes. I am looking forward to working with these young athletes, with expert help and advice from BWL Performance staff in Leeds and working with GB head coach Tamas Feher and the athletes’ respective club coaches in the developing our young athletes.”
In Scotland the Talent Squads are already in place and being led by Scottish Performance Coach, Charles Hamilton, and fed directly into the BWL Talent Squads. Funding for this programme comes through SportScotland.
SOME of the best young weightlifters from across the country were in action in the 2012 British Student Championships at Leeds Metropolitan University on Saturday 24th March.
Once again one of the largest entries for several years, 85 weightlifters attended the event which was organised by British Weight Lifting and attracted more than 50 novices as well as some more advanced weightlifters with Olympic ambitions.
With 18 athletes in action, St Mary’s University in London claimed the overall win, but they had stiff competition from a host of universities and colleges who are all relatively new to weightlifting.
Kilmarnock College and BWL Squad athlete Craig Carfray won the 69kg category, totalling 242kg to just edge past St Mary’s Adam Matussi who achieved 235kg.
Another St Mary’s lifter, 22-year-old Sam Colgate, secured the number one spot in the 85kg class with a total of 242kg with Leeds Met lifter Chris Morgan in close second with 230kg.
Loughborough University’s former Olympian Tommy Yule comfortably won the 94kg event with a 305kg total thereafter Daniel Maloney of Leeds Met excelled in the 105kg class with a 260kg total.
In the women’s event, West of Scotland celebrated victory in the 69kg Women’s event with Georgie Black achieving a 180kg total. A solid performance by Nicky Hamilton secured Inverclyde Sports College top spot in the 58kg with a 115kg.
“It was a fantastic event, it was great to see so many new weightlifters competing, each year the standard increases,” said BWL Performance Officer Dan Wagner. “The championships couldn’t have run as well without the help of the BWL staff, volunteers and the Leeds Met RUFC who loaded both platforms, it was a great team effort. Bring on next year!”
For further results, please go www.britishweightlifting.org/competitions
TOP weightlifters past and present helped to open the Holyhead and Anglesey Weightlifting and Fitness Centre new facility at the Ucheldre Centre on the Welsh island earlier this month.
While the old Mill Bank Club has long been a Mecca for weightlifting, major investment means the newly named Holyhead and Anglesey Weightlifting and Fitness Centre can now cater for demands from the elite to fitness novices.
The venue now includes 13 lifting stations – complying to international standards for its regional centre of excellence status – and will expand its strength and conditioning programmes for other sports.
From a community perspective, the club’s opening hours have extended to six days a week with additional fitness programmes aimed at juniors and women and girls.
A key aim is to enlist 50 new junior members, 48 new senior members and train up a number of new coaches.
Funding of over £31,000 from Sport Wales, and a range of other partners, has made the project a real team effort.
Head of the centre and Former Royal Welch Guard Fusilier, Ray Williams won gold at the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. He said: “It’s been about four years since we started to seek funds to put this together. It’s an immense improvement and we’re hugely excited.
“It opens another chapter in the club’s history which is 40 years long and produced a number of champions. This environment is going to be conducive for producing more for years and years and decades after I’ve gone.
“It’s been a collaboration between families, friends and different amateur groups over a long period of time and every one of them we thank. This centre is a huge positive that will help the youngsters but also people in their 50s, 60s and 70s to do something that I’m passionate about; and that’s keep fit.
"If we're going to create a nation of champions here in Wales we need excellent facilities. We've had fantastic weightlifting success on the world stage over the decades,” adds Ray. “But weightlifting is still a minority sport that we need to grow at the grassroots level to increase our talent pool and keep our winning ways going.
“We’re always trying to nurture the next tranche of champions and I’m now working with all five secondary schools on Anglesey.”
As well as keeping the community fit, the centre is geared up to unearth yet more future champions, particularly as the sport gears up for an unprecedented level of exposure at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“Now we’ve got more training space we’re going to be able to make it available to more people to use, and with that increased reach it’s inevitable that we’re going to produce more champions.
“I think it was 1948 the last time we held the Olympic Games and I think there’s going to be a huge excitement and it’s going to build in these months as we get closer to London.
“I’d like to think that there’ll be an increase in the popularity of our sport but I think it comes down to people like me to make people aware that we’re here and then to sell the sport.
“I’d say to anyone, from any sport, do Olympic weightlifting as a by-product of what you do and it’s a phenomenal explosive sport to be involved in. So join a local club or come and see me.”
Text courtesy of Paul Batcup, Sport Wales.
THE British Senior Championships will give many of our top weightlifters their final chance to hit Olympic qualifying targets – but for many more, it is their chance to shine on the national stage.
The event, at the Post Mill Centre, South Normanton (DE55 2EJ) in Derbyshire on May 26, is the final qualifier for those athletes hoping to represent Great Britain at the London games this summer, and many of the sport’s top names will be in action with the Olympic qualifying period ending just a few days later.
The weigh-in begins at 7am with the first categories beginning shortly after and continuing throughout the day.
Results from the British Championships will be available on the British Weight Lifting website shortly after the event.
SEVEN athletes returned from the European Weightlifting Championships in Turkey last week with Olympic standard lifts under their belts – but with just five places available in the team for the 2012 Olympics the pressure is mounting.
Only London-based Zoe Smith managed to hit the Olympic A standard, and she will need to do that again before the end of May to give herself the best chance of being picked to go to the London games.
Fellow London lifter Jo Calvino broke the British record with a snatch of 66kg, and with a clean and jerk of 84kg she reached the Olympic B standard with 150kg.
Other athletes to hit the Olympic B standard were Gareth Evans, Emily Godley, Jack Oliver, Natasha Perdue and Peter Kirkbride.
Fiona Lothian, British Weight Lifting Performance Manager, said: “There were good performances from Zoe Smith and Emily Godley, both of whom raised their game. And Gareth Evans, Jack Oliver and Natasha Perdue demonstrated that the A standard is within their grasp and they will be going for it again in a couple of weeks.
“The British Championships on 26th May is now critical for all athletes who have not yet hit B standard, or for those athletes looking to qualify through A standard, which will make for an exciting event!”
Holyhead’s Evans totalled 271kg in the 69kg class, 12kg short of the A standard which he has achieved in training. He will next lift in the Welsh Championships on May 5 in search of the A standard.
Londoner Emily Godley lifted 82kg in the snatch and 103kg in the clean and jerk to total 185kg and confidently hit the B standard for the 63kg class.
Bexleyheath’s Jack Oliver was just short of the A standard with a total of 304kg, and he will go to the British Under-23 Championships later this month in search of the A standard.
Swansea’s Natasha Perdue set a new personal best in the 69kg class with 95kg and 115kg, and she will be targeting the A standard which is just 8kg more at the Welsh and British Championships over the next few weeks.
Kilmarnock’s Commonwealth Games silver medallist Peter Kirkbride just scraped the B standard of 320kg in the 94kg class.
Other GB lifters competing in Antalya included Cardiff 18-year-old Darius Jakarzadeh, who competed in the 105kg+ category. He lifted 155kg in the snatch and 185kg in the clean and jerk, totalling 340kg. That set new Under-23 and Junior records in the snatch and total, and equalled the old record in the clean and jerk.
Bristol 18-year-old Sonny Webster set new British records for the snatch and total with 293kg (133 and 160), while London’s Halil Zorba totalled 285kg in the 77kg class.
Birmingham 48kg competitor Hannah Powell couldn’t manage a successful lift in the clean and jerk, while Devon’s Helen Jewell couldn’t manage a good snatch in the 58kg class.
THE cream of British weightlifting travel to Turkey this week to compete in the European Championships as they chase Olympic qualification.
With the Olympic qualifying period running until the end of May, the European Championship in Antalya is one of the last few events where athletes can target the Olympic qualifying marks and strengthen their claim for a place on the team for London 2012.
The 12-strong squad of British competitors – six female and six male - are spread over eight weight categories and will compete from April 9 to April 15.
“This is a crucial time for any athlete who hopes to be selected for the London Olympics,” said British Weight Lifting Performance Manager Fiona Lothian. “Many of our athletes have reached the Olympic qualifying standards in training - but it only counts if they do it in top-level competition, and this is one of just a few events left for them to do that.”
A maximum of three men and two women can be selected for the London Olympics, but they will only be considered if they hit the specified A standard twice or B standard once, with athletes hitting the A standard given preference. Currently no athletes have hit the A or B standard in the required events, so competition for places is very much still open with no one yet guaranteed selection.
British Athletes
Women
April 9 - Jo Calvino (London, Club Crystal Palace WLC, Coach Keith Morgan) 48kg
April 9 - Hannah Powell (Birmingham, Club Olddbury COS, Coach Tamas Feher) 48kg
April 11 – Helen Jewell (Ivybridge, Club Ivybridge WLA Coach Tamas Feher) 58kg
April 11 – Zoe Smith (London, Club Europa WLC, Coach Andrew Callard) 58kg
April 12 – Emily Godley (London, Club Crystal Palace WLC, Coach Keith Morgan) 63kg
April 13 – Natasha Perdue (Swansea, Club Unattached, Coach Tamas Feher ) 69kg
Men
April 11 – Gareth Evans (Holyhead, Club Holyhead WLC, Coach Tamas Feher) 69kg
April 12 – Jack Oliver (Bexleyheath, Club Europa WLC, Coach Tamas Feher) 77kg
April 12 – Halil Zorba (London, Club Crystal Palace WLC, Coach Keith Morgan) 77kg
April 13 – Sonny Webster (Bristol, Club Empire WLC, Coach Tamas Feher / Andy Sutor) 77kg
April 13/14 – Peter Kirkbride (Kilmarnock, Club Kilmarnock AWC, Coach Charles Hamilton) 94kg
April 15 – Darius Jokarzadeh (Cardiff, Club unattached, Coach Rohdri Thomas) 105kg+
NATHAN Fisher, the 28-year-old powerlifter who returned from the Special Olympics in Athens last year with four medals, has been selected as one of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Bearers.
Fisher, from the Forest of Dean, will carry the torch in Evesham on July 1.
He won gold, silver and two bronze medals in Athens last yea,r despite being struck down with food poisoning the day before he competed.
Following on from that, he has just returned from winning his class in the Scottish Special Powerlifting Championships in Dundee.
