International weightlifting results
March and April had highlights, disappointments and comebacks in store for Luxembourg’s weightlifters, both on a national and international level. The national championships in mid-March were followed by the European Small Nations Tournament in Malta, where Luxembourg was represented by Mara Strzykala, Muriel Schu, Alexios Karakatsanis and Joris Peltier. The quartet ended up 5th in the team ranking, with 958,74 points.
Strzykala (-55 kg) lifted 67 kg in the snatch and 90 kg in the clean and jerk, earning a total of 157 kg and 5th place overall in the women’s individual ranking. Having missed out on this year’s nationals, Karakatsanis and Peltier (both -96 kg) proved that the preparations abroad for the Small Nations Tournament bore fruit, with Karakatsanis snatching 122 and cleaning and jerking 140 (total of 262) and Peltier showing significant improvement in all disciplines (snatch 107, C&J 124, total of 231). Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for Schu, who couldn’t secure a valid attempt in the snatch and thus didn’t score for the team ranking. Nonetheless, the athlete managed to establish a new national record with 101 kg in the clean and jerk, just one week after her 100 at the nationals.
For COSL cadre promotion athlete Mara Strzykala, preparations started immediately for the European Championships in Chișinău (Moldova), where the athlete ended up 11th in the -49 category. For the first time in her lifting career, both first attempts didn’t count, which took a toll on her mental strength. Strzykala still managed to secure her second attempts (67 in the snatch, 87 in the clean and jerk) but couldn’t lift the 70 and 90 kg, both weights she has already proven to be able to handle. But not all days are good ones and despite the rocky starts, the athlete didn’t give up.
A big surprise was the appearance of Luxembourg’s national trainer Sabine Kusterer, who had announced her official retirement from the international stage but ended up 14th in the -64 kg category. With 205 kg overall (snatch 91, C&J 114), the former Olympian showed that she could handle the double task of coaching and competing.
Image credit: Isaac Morillas
