Ziana Azariah has made a huge impact in a relatively short space of time. She burst onto the scene in 2021, taking the bronze medal at that year's British Championships and moving up a place each subsequent year, culminating in her taking the title in 2023.
At the Classic World Championships in Malta this year, she faced some fierce competition from the likes of Amanda Lawrence and Kristín Þórhallsdóttir, not to mention her own team mate, Temi Nuga.
Ziana opened her squat with an easy looking 190kg and then moved 200kg almost as quickly for her second. 207.5kg went on the bar for her final squat. This was initially turned down 2 to 1 for depth but the jury overturned the decision and the lift stood.
Bench is Ziana’s weakest lift but she kept stacking kilos onto her total. Her second bench at 100kg looked easy and she selected 102.5kg for her third - a PB attempt. It got off to a shaky start when she was asked to replace the bar but the side ref finally put his hand down and allowed her to get on with it. Unshaken, the lift was smooth, if a little uneven. This put Ziana in 6th place at sub-total.
Ziana has been trading the biggest deadlift in British Powerlifting back and forth with Erholove John this year and last, so it’s fair to say that deadlift is her best lift and, indeed, 225kg for her opening lift moved like an empty bar.
237.5kg slowed her down a little but, to be frank, not much. With one lift to go, Ziana sat in 4th place, 7.5kg behind Temi. With second place out of reach, Ziana loaded up 247.5kg, the minimum she needed to snatch the last podium place. It absolutely flew and Ziana Azariah, in her second world championships, secured the bronze medal overall as well as the deadlift silver. Brilliant lifting and lots, lots more to come.
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