Watch: Thornton places eighth overall in IWF Junior World Championships

The IWF Junior World Championships saw Malta’s leading youngster Tenishia Thornton finish on top in the 55kg B group Group B.

Her efforts on the day saw Thornton finish in sixth place overall in the snatch, ninth place overall in the clean and jerk and eighth in the overall standings.

Thornton’s five successful attempts were all good enough to break her current 55kg senior national record by a whopping 18kg.

But added to that, the 16-year-old also broke the snatch youth commonwealth record by six kilogrammes and improve the clean and jerk youth commonwealth record by five kilogrammes as well as improving the overall record by ten kilogrammes.

Thornton is technically still a youth athlete, and therefore was one of the youngest competitors in the field.

She managed all her snatch attempts at 77kg, 79kg and 81kg. She went on to open her clean and jerks with 97kg, followed by a near miss at 99kg which she then managed on her third attempt. 

After topping the Group B and surpassing athletes from Venezuela, Croatia, Egypt, Poland, Israel and Turkmenistan; she went on to also surpass athletes that competed in Group A, including lifters from Kazakhstan, Greece, Germany and Italy.

The competition comes only a few weeks before the Youth World Championships which will be held in Mexico in June.

Here, Thornton will be competing against athletes her age, and therefore be even more competitive in that field. 

Thornton was accompanied by her coach and MWA president Jesmond Caruana. 

This competition could not be possible without the help of SportMalta and the Malta Olympic Committee.