Thornton attains best-ever result with 10th place at European Championships

Malta rising weightlifting star Tenishia Thornton has secured a prestigious result at the European Championships in Russia as the young lifter placed tenth in the 49kg class.

Thornton’s top-ten placing in her division ranks as Malta’s best ever result in the continental championship and further underlines the youngster’s huge potential in the sport.

In Moscow, Thornton to lift 70kg in the Snatch and an 89kg lift in the Clean and Jerk which was third successive new national mark in the competition after efforts of 85kg and 87kg in her first two attempts, bettering her previous best by five kilogrammes.

In the end, Thornton finished with a combined score of 159kg – a new national best which is a four-kilogramme improvement on the previous mark.

Thornton finished ahead of Polands’s Marlena Polkowska, who had made it to the Group A lifters and ended her commitments with an overall score of 158kg, Greek lifter Maria Pipiliaridou, who ended with a combined score of 157kg and Moldova’s Hincu Teodora-Luminita (155kg).

This result comes only a few months after her stellar performance in the Youth World Championships, where she finished in third overall with a 155kg total.

On the other hand, Yazmin Zammit Stevens placed 21^st in the 71kg category, still an encouraging result when one considers that the Maltese lifter was just recovering from a number of injuries.

In Moscow, Zammit Stevens managed to set two new national records in the Snatch category where she managed to lift first 86kg and then 88kgs.

On the other hand, Zammit Stevens then managed to lift 102kg in the clean and jerk to end the competition with a total of 190kg.