Lenka Pilnikova absolutely stormed her way to victory in the 47kg class. 117.5kg on squat netted her the gold medal and a new British record. 77.5kg on bench did the same job and put her in a commanding position going into deadlift. Here she met a challenge from the Italian lifter, Deidda, who used both bodyweight and lot number advantage to good effect to keep the deadlift gold away but Lenka still cleared a clean sweep of British records and claimed her first international title.
Two familiar faces in the 57kg class - Helen Hughes and Cat Shamel both came into their own on bench. Helen took the gold and a new British record with 87.5kg and Cat was not far behind with 82.5kg for the bench silver. The competition was incredibly close going into deadlifts. The Italian, Guidi, was 15kg ahead of the rest of the field but then the next FIVE lifters were within 2.5kg of each.
No one faltered on the first round of deadlifts and the field began to spread out a little with Cat in 4th and Helen in 5th. Both asked for 152.5kg for their second attempts. Helen first and she moved up to third with a solid pull. Cat was out for the same weight straight afterwards but missed! It just looked too heavy. Third round and Cat attempted the same weight again but it was not to be and Cat finished in fifth place in a tough field. Helen took 157.5kg for an easy ride for her third, snatching the deadlift bronze and cementing her third place overall.
Hannah Yardy had a good day in the 63kg class, taking the silver medal in squat with 152.5kg. She claimed her first British record alongside the gold medal with a massive 95kg bench, moving into the lead by a small margin but with a lot of work to do to defend against the three lifters snapping at her heels.
In fact, the Ukrainian, Zhukovska, came past with her opener, eventually going on to deadlift a world record and proving impossible to catch. Nevertheless, Hannah pulled out from the rest of the field with a hard fought 187.5kg, giving her the deadlift silver medal as well as the overall silver and another British record for her 435kg total.
Genevieve Collins was nominated in second place and made a good start, taking the squat silver with 157.5kg. Things started to go wrong on bench though. The new bench rules are here and, whatever you think of them, they are having an effect. Gen struggled to get a bench in due to insufficient elbow depth, missing her first and third but managing to get 85kg passed on her second. This left her in third place but under a lot of pressure from the Finn, Laine, and the Swedish lifter, Vedestig. Gen opened her deadlift with 165kg and Laine moved past with 175kg. 175kg for Gen's second and both Laine ahead and Vedestig behind matched step, so we maintained the positions going into the final round. Gen attempted 180kg to move on to the overall podium but it looks like today just wasn't her day and she finished 4th.
Onto the super heavyweights and the much anticipated masters debut of Rebecca Coggle alongside the return of Helen Ferguson-Ford. On squat, both struggled a little with depth by Rebecca smashed the M1 world record with 205kg then 210kg. With Helen on 180kg, they managed their first British one-two of the day. Another great performance from them on bench gave Rebecca the gold and a new British record with 117.5kg with Helen taking the silver with 105kg. A firm member of Team Sub-total, Rebecca's lead eroded a fair way during deadlifts, but she kept on coming out and putting weight on the bar and, in the end, was too far ahead to catch. Helen meanwhile took the deadlift silver with 192.5kg and managed to hold off the opposition for the overall silver too.
The M1 British team were dominant, like the M2s before them. Two European champions and two overall silvers gave them the team award and Hannah Yardy the 2nd place Best Lifter. What a team!
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