JustLifters Ian Haya, Nico Winter, Christos Georaras, and Nancy Kozorezova, coached by Greg Chin, represented Ontario at the 2013 Canadian Senior Weightlifting Championships in Edmonton, AB this past weekend.
Ian lifted in the very first session on Saturday and took home his second, consecutive silver medal in the M62 category. He finished the snatches with a final lift of 98kg, setting a new Ontario Senior Provincial Snatch Record. In the clean and jerks, he made 117kg on his second attempt and was able to get 122kg overhead on his third, but the lift was turned down. His total of 215kg also set the new Ontario Senior Total Record.
Lifting in the second session was junior lifter Nico Winter. Nico made his first two attempts of 95kg and 98kg in the snatch. Between his second and third attempts was a much longer break, which is more common at this level of competition, and he couldn't quite get under 102kg. In the clean and jerks, he rebounded after missing his opener, and made his last two attempts, locking out 120kg on his final attempt. This gave Nico a total of 218, which is tremendous given the number of challenges he needed to overcome in the final hours and minutes leading up to his session.
Next up was Christos Georgaras, lifting in the final Saturday session, which didn't start until 7:30pm (9:30pm eastern!). Chris stormed out of the gate and made all three snatches, finishing with a solid lift of 115kg. Competing in one of the larger groups, there was a long break for him before the clean and jerks. Staying right on track, he came out and easily made 140kg, then 145kg, in his first two clean and jerks. Almost having a perfect meet, Christos was unable to get his last attempt, losing the bar in the recovery of the clean. These lifts gave him a 260kg total. This is Chris's first competive season in which he qualified for provincials at a club meet, and then qualifed for nationals at provincials, making his performance here even more impressive.
Our last lifter was another junioraged athlete, Nancy Kozorezova, lifting in the second session on Sunday. Despite missing her opening snatch attempt, Nancy fired back and nailed her second attempt at 60kg, and then locked out 63kg in her third. Moving on to the clean and jerks, she easily made her opener at 75kg with her second attempt of 80kg looking even better than her first. Calling 84kg for her final attempt, she was able to rack the clean, but caught it a little bit too much on her heels and had to bail. This gave her a total of 143, another great showing. All the more impressive is the fact that, due to numerous injuries, Nancy was only able to seriously train two weeks prior to this competition.
This was the first time Nancy, Nico, and Chris have competed on the Senior National stage. It was a great experience for them, as they all lifted well. Factor in the travel, time difference, level of competition, and atmosphere, it's a great start for them competing at this level and we're really looking forward to everything the future has in store for these hard working, dedicated athletes.
Coach Greg Chin also did a tremendous job managing all 4 of us lifters alongside the Ontario Team Coaches Abdallah Alsebaai, Steve Sandor, Pierre St-Jean, and Hani Kanama. For those that don't compete, you have to understand that the lifts that are made on the competition platform don't just happen. They aren't just a result of the training, but managing every aspect in the last few days from what an athlete should be eating/drinking, how much sleep/rest and when, last minute recovery therapy, getting to weigh-in, after weigh-in food/fluid, mental preparation, planning the warm-ups, timing, and adjusting on the fly to any deviation to your previous plans, all before you even step foot on the competition platform.
As we say goodbye to Edmonton, we'd like to thank everyone that has supported us and cheered us on. It really means a lot to us. It's really exciting seeing the growth of our JustLift family and having more and more lifters getting better everyday. There's no doubt in my mind that we'll have even more JustLifters at Nationals next year! We've had a lot of fun here, but we miss you all and we'll be back in the gym training hard alongside all of you soon!
