Ashley earns silver at nationals

A trio of Victorian Jewish weightlifters achieved excellent results at last weekend’s 2023 AWF Australian Junior (U20) and U23 Championships in Townsville. Sixteen-year-old Ashley Kolomoisky – the youngest entrant in a nine-strong field in her female under 59kg bodyweight division – won a silver medal. In the process, she nailed a PB and Victorian age record of 68kg in the snatch, and 84kg in the clean & jerk, to score 152. Kolomoisky, who trains at Melbourne West Barbell Club, was delighted with her result, and has even more good news to celebrate, as she made the Australian squad for the 2023 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Delhi this July – a trip she has started fundraising for. In the female under 71kg division, 2022 Maccabi Australia Junior Sportswoman of the Year, Layla Bloom, had a best snatch lift of 72kg, and a PB clean & Jerk lift of 101kg, to score 173, setting Victorian youth and junior records. Bloom, who turns 18 this year, and represented Australia at the 2022 youth (U17) worlds and the Maccabiah Games, placed fifth overall out of 14 in Townsville, and third in the junior (U20) category. The Phoenix Weightlifting Club member is aiming to qualify for the 2023 U20 Weightlifting World Championships. And in his debut U23 nationals, 22-year-old Hawthorn Weightlifting Club athlete Elliot Bolaffi – who only switched to weightlifting from CrossFit in early 2022 – came equal ninth out of 13 in the men’s under 89kg division, up against several current state champions. Bolaffi made a PB snatch lift of 100kg, and a 125kg clean & jerk lift, to score 225.

Credit AJN