2020 Oceania Championships Wrap Up

The multi-venue Oceania Championships have come to a conclusion, with the Nauru division the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle for the delayed 2020 event. The Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Auckland divisions had gone off without a hitch just prior, with 130 lifters from 8 nations putting up some stellar performances. Australia took out both team titles, with 80 points in each of the Men’s and Women’s accounting for runners up New Zealand and Nauru. Top Aussie performances included –

• Nolene Kingi setting an Australian Record Total at 100+kg with 549kg

• 461kg by Isabella Thomson at 72kg, accounting for arch-rival Megan Reed’s 450kg

• no less than three World Junior Deadlift Records in a row, at 48, 53 and 58kg from Ellescia Phung, Olivia Zhang and Alison Lau with 152kg, 161kg and 181kg.

However the absolute top marks came from the Pacific, with Karlina Tongotea obliterating the World Record with a monumental 533kg at 72kg. and Riria Ropati slicing the 100+ kg Total record via 599kg. Then Bob Adam of Nauru took out the longstanding 94kg Squat World record with 304kg, while Stanley Cocker, a light Super at 134kg, Total’d an impressive 916kg.

Can this be topped? We’ll see at the 2021 Oceania Championships, not that far away, set for next November in Whangarei, New Zealand.