St Mary’s Weightlifters Take Top Spots at English Championships

This weekend (22nd and 23rd February), athletes from the Weightlifting Club at St Mary’s University, Twickenham competed in the English Weightlifting Championships, which took place in Smethwick in the West Midlands. Final year Strength and Conditioning student Adam Mattiussi, who is the current 77kg British Weightlifting Champion and was recently selected for the Great Britain Weightlifting Talent Squad, took second place in the 77kg category after lifting 130kg snatch and 153kg clean and jerk. The result was a qualifying total for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which will hopefully see him selected to the team later this year. Meanwhile fellow teammates Alex Seghal came 6th in the 52kg category, Stuart Diplock 5th in the 85kg category, Ben Ross 4th in the 69kg category and former club president Rob Anderson 14th in 77kg category. St Mary’s Strength Club President Alex Sehgal said, “It was good to see a number of current and former St Mary's lifters competing at the English Championships. Although some lifters might have felt that their results were sub-par, this just shows how high we set the bar for ourselves. However, most lifters were happy with their performances. Plus, we're all incredibly proud of Adam Mattiussi's colossal 283kg total and seeing him qualify for commonwealth squad selection! "Overall it was a great weekend and a learning curve for all involved. I look forward to more St Mary's members competing at national championships in the coming years.” The full results from the British Weightlifting Championships are: Alex Seghal – 6th in 52kg category with 48kg snatch and 56kg clean and jerk Stuart Diplock– 5th in 85kg category with 110kg snatch and 138kg clean and jerk Adam Mattiussi – 2nd in 77kg category with 130kg snatch and 153kg clean and jerk Ben Ross – 4th in 69kg category with 95kg snatch and 111kg clean and jerk Rob Anderson (alumnus) – 14th in 77kg category with 95kg snatch and 115kg clean and jerk