WEIGHTLIFTING: Australian weightlifter Kiana Elliott has done what she came to Nanjing to do- a personal best.
The Sydney Year 12 student traded her paint brushes for lycra at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China to lift a total of 164kg and finish seventh in the 63kg division.
Elliott entered the Games with a personal best of 77kg in the snatch, and on the YOG stage she managed a lift of 78kg- a new Junior Australian Record.
“It was definitely great to break that Australian Youth Record at such a big international competition,” the 17-year-old said.
“The atmosphere here in Nanjing was pretty cool. It’s such an awesome stadium. Being up on the podium with the crowd in tiers in front of you is a pretty cool situation to lift in- it really gets you fired up.”
With back injuries plaguing her preparation, Elliott was also satisfied with her lift of 86kg in the clean and jerk- just shy of her 89kg personal best.
“For the past month after coming back from Junior Worlds I’ve had to be cautious in training because my back tends to flare up quite a bit. So training hasn’t been as good as it could have been, and I was also sick for about a month so it wasn’t quite the best preparation, but I’m happy with how I’ve done.”
It took two attempts for Elliott to start her campaign, missing her first snatch attempt at 73kg before succeeding on her second lift. She then raised the bar at 79kg, much to the delight of supporting teammate Aydan McMahon and coach Gregory Hobl.
In the clean and jerk, she started on 86kg and had trouble with her next two lifts at 88kg.
Meanwhile Egyptian Sara Ahmed powered to gold with a lift of 103kg in the snatch- just shy of the Youth World Record- and 125kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 228kg.
Mexican Ana Lilia Duran Ayon took the silver with a total of 210kg, and Emotional Ukranian Sofiya Zenchenko finished third on 208kg.
“The competition was pretty good. They’re really good lifters and it’s hard to believe they’re my own age,” the Aussie said.
“They’ve been training a lot longer than I have- I’ve only been doing it for a year- but it’s amazing to watch them. I’ve learnt determination from them – to stick with it for a really long time.”
The Youth Olympian looks forward to enjoying Nanjing 2014 with the other 88 members of the 2014 Australian Youth Olympic Team for the next week. After that, it’s business time.
“I just want to get home, work really hard on my lifting. Really the goal is Gold Coast 2018 (Commonwealth Games)- to do my best there.”
When you consider Elliott only began lifting last year, you can be pretty confident she can achieve that dream.
Taya Conomos
Olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam
