Maltese lifters excelled at the European Small Nations Championships in San Marino last weekend.

The team, made up of Kyle Micallef, Kieran Mifsud, Matthew Camilleri, Yazmin Zammit Stevens and Elisia Scicluna placed second, behind overall winners Iceland.

The Maltese lifters set 11 national records along with a series of personal bests.

Zammit Stevens lifted the biggest total recorded by a Maltese female lifter – 172kg.

Competing in the -69kg category, Zammit Stevens finished with a snatch of 77kg and clean and jerk of 95kg, breaking two national records in the process.

Scicluna (-90kg) snatched a new national record attempt at 70kg and powered through her clean and jerks with all three attempts being good lifts.

She finished at 89kg and a total of 159kg, setting three national records in this meet.

The in-form Kyle Micallef improved his total in the 94kg category. He added on to his national record of the snatch with an attempt of 125kg.

Micallef broke a 13-year-old clean and jerk record twice with lifts of 156kg and 159kg. He finished with a 284kg total and five new national marks.

Kieran Mifsud, 17, was the youngest athlete in the competition when he took part in the -105kg category. He finished with a snatch of 122kg and a clean and jerk of 156kg.

Matthew Camilleri (-85kg) finished the competition with a personal record of 243kg. He recorded a snatch of 108kg snatch and fought hard through a clean and jerk at 135kg.

The Malta Weightlifting Association said that they were delighted with the team’s results in San Marino.

“The team’s performance at the European Small Nations is one of the best ever seen by Malta Weightlifting. Association,” the statement said.

“The continuous improvement and numerous records being broken at basically every single meet shows the association’s hard work is definitely paying off.”

During the championships, MWA president Jesmond Caruana was elected as General Secretary of the IWF European Small Nations.