There was a spate of national records during the Malta Weightlifting Open which was held at the Cottonera Sports Complex last Sunday.
The competition got underway with the youngest lifters in competition – the cadets.
Despite their young age, the participants produced a tight competition with the top two lifters separated by only one point.
Ryle Borg was crowned champion with a total of 73kg which corresponded to 133 points.
Kyle Camilleri finished just a point behind with a total of 56kg.
Nikolai Muscat and Luca Zammit also produced commendable performances to finish in third and fourth place respectively.
Other participants in this category where Skolasport debutant Blake Attard and Tristian Zammit.
Shelby Vassallo won the U-15 girls category and went on to place second in the U-17 class with an impressive total of 113kg.
Shazel Gusman won both the U-17 and U-20 female divisions with a total of 126kg, breaking two national records in the process.
Rebecca Fitz finished behind Gusman in the U-20 category with a combined lift of 112kg.
The senior female category was contested by eight lifters.
Yazmin Zammit Stevens retained her Malta Open title for a second successive year when she amassed 171kg for a corresponding score of 215 points.
Seventeen lifters were in action in the men’s competition.
The U-20 category was won by Kieran Mifsud. Despite struggling with a slight knee injury, he still managed to finish with an impressive total of 283kg (309 points).
Mifsud even managed to add four 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 showed remarkable improvement when placing second in U-20 class with a total of 210kg.
Kyle Micallef, won the senior category with a 275kg total and a corresponding 320 points.
Mifsud finished second ahead of Vlad Baldacchino with a combined effort of 237kg.
Rodmar Pulis, back in competition following shoulder surgery, finished fourth.
Fifth place went to Andre Buhagiar who managed to break an 11-year-old record in the 69kg category with a snatch of 93kg.