Webster steps up in Valencia

Ivybridge’s Sonny Webster lifting in the B group of the 77 kg class at the European Youth Championships in Valencia, today , found himself ranked 5th in the group on starting totals. Having to wait until four lifters had completed all of their lifts he came out to open on 103 kg which he managed to hold, for a successful start to the competition.  He then went up to his curret PB of 108 kg to give himself another lifter between himself and his next attempt.     In this attempt,his left foot slipped  as he went into the bottom of the snatch and he went forward onto his knees as the weight was above his head, fortunately he dropped the bar and rolled backwards,  avoiding injury.  Fortunately the Finnish lifter had also dropped his 108 kg attempt, so while he came back out.  it gave Sonny a moment to refocus before his last attempt in the snatch at 108 kg.  Sitting down, for what seemed forever to the crowd, he managed to hold the weight and stand to get a successful lift, to equal his PB and place 5th in the group, which was won by the Albanian, Aleks Kacani, with 133 kg. .

In the C&J Sonny’s opening weight of 130 kg was comfortable and got him a total on the board..  He then had a longer than expected wait as the Finnish lifter he had been  head to head with in the snatch bombed out  in the C&J at a weight of 133 kg. Sonny then lifted a new PB of 134kg, followed by 137 kg, to give him a new PB total of 245 kg, which placed him 4th in the group, and guarantees him a top 13 finish depending on the final results of the A group, which is later today. The B group C&J was  also won by Aleks Kacani, with a 150 kg, to give him a 283 kg total.

Overall a great performance from Sonny, getting 5 out of 6 lifts. He has made significant progress since he competed in this event 8 months ago in Israel, where he finished with a 207kg total (92 kg / 105 kg) in the 69kg class,. Sonny still has another year at Youth level. Sonny is currently coached by WCL Head Coach, Tamas Feher in conjunction with his personal coach, Michaela Breeze.

Videos of both Zoe Smith and Sonny Webster’s lifts can be found on YouTube.