MDFPA July Test Competition

Another MDFPA meet was held at The Pit, Ħamrun, where all athletes displayed top performances and broke records. Once again new lifters took part in this meet, namely Sonja Iltanen, Malcolm Martin, Mark Grech, Yuri Andropov, and Oleg Novokhatnii. This shows that our sport is constantly growing. Twenty lifters took part in this meet which is not a small number given that this was a test competition.

Highlights of the event:

Mario Mifsud, once again claims the first place in the Maltese rankings with 411points while destroying all the records in the -100kg category.

Personal Records and National Records were demolished.

A total of 19 National Records were set.

This was the first time a competition was run by Steven Dutton, Sean Micallef and Shawn Farrugia.

Starting off with Mario Mifsud who has once again claimed first position within the Maltese rankings, squatted 255kg, benched 160kg and pulled a massive 320kg deadlift. He weighed in at 97.6kg with a great body condition making it his first experience lifting in the under 100kg cateogry.  These massive lifts, by far, beat all the previous national records within this category. Having a 735kg powerlifting total while shedding body weight shows Mifsud’s determination and his brute strength.

Shawn Farrugia, who climbed up to third place within the Maltese rankings, displayed his best performance yet. This is Farrugia’s first time competing in the-75kg category. He squatted 180kg, bench pressed 140kg and pulled a 220kg deadlift. This means that he broke the previous bench press national record by 10kg. Weighing in at 69.8kg means that he bench pressed more than twice bodyweight which is quite a huge achievement and as prestigious as Mark Formosa’s huge bench press.

Charles “King” Degiorgio who has moved up to the -82.5kg did not obtain his highest coefficient score. However he increased his squat and bench press numbers significantly. In fact he squatted 225kg which now stands as the national record in the -82.5kg. He went on to bench press 125kg and pull a 250kg deadlift before attempting a 265kg pull, which he narrowly failed. Despite failing his 265kg deadlift, Degiorgio will surely pull this weight any time soon.

Jakup Czyrt, who weighed in at 98.9kg, 1kg heavier than Mifsud, displayed his best performance yet, squatting 240kg, adding 5kg to his previous best, bench pressed 155kg, and registered a 265kg deadlift after failing it in the first attempt. Czyrt went on to attempt a 275kg deadlift which he failed at lock out. Claiming 5th place in this meet was an in shape Matteo Aquilina who registered a personal best, 175kg squat, a 102.5kg bench press and a 205kg deadlift. Despite pulling 205kg, Aquilina has more in the tank in the deadlift and he is going to pull bigger weights in the near future for sure. Furthermore, Aquilina is in the second place of the first division, slowly making his way into the premier division.

George Bonanno who competed in the -90kg category, exhibited a great performance. He registered a 180kg squat after successfully attempting 150 & 175kg. Bonanno went on to nail a personal best in the bench press and deadlift, lifting 142.5kg and a 215kg respectively. Bonanno managed to get all the nine attempts and achieved a 537.5kg total.

Yuri Andropov who made his first appearance on the MDFPA platform competed in the -82.5kg category. Andropov squatted a 160kg squat in his third attempt after failing 140kg and 160kg in his first and second attempts. He then went on to register a 120kg bench and a respectible 210kg pull. Having totaled 490kg, Andropov is surely a promising lifter, one should look out for in the future.

Jason Aquilina, Jurgen Casha, and Andrew “the Crowd Pleaser” Soler in the under 75kg category achieved close totals, 435kg, 420kg and 410kg respectively. Casha, who registered the biggest squat amongst these lifters went on to bench press a solid 85kg and pull an easy 185kg. Casha has more left in the tank as he missed 195kg in the deadlift, a weight which he has pulled before. “The Crowd Pleaser” who had previosly annihilated a 120kg squat, failed a 140kg squat due to lack of depth. However he achieved great results in the bench press as he destroyed a 100kg personal best in this lift. Soler had the best of Aquilina in the bench press but Aquilina managed to surpass Soler in the squat, registering 135kg in this lift. Aquilina and Soler, both pulled 190kg in the deadlift.

The under 90kg category was hotly contested by Sean Micallef and newcomers, Mark Grech and Oleg Novokhatnii. In top shape Sean Micallef registered a 185kg squat, 115kg bench press and a 220kg deadlift. Micallef had 8 good lifts out of 9 and totalled 520kg which is the qualifying total for the under 90kg category. Grech who squatted 160kg and benched 100kg, desroyed a 230kg deadlift. Grech, like Micallef had 8 good lifts out of 9 and totalled 490kg. Stepping on the platform and managing 8 lifts out of 9 is quite an achievement for a newcomer as some new lifters tend to find it difficult to adhere to the rules. Novokhatnii had a shaky start in the squat after failing his first and second attempts at 140kg. However he managed to squat a 147.5kg in his third attempt. He went on to bench press 105kg and deadlifted 185kg, achieving a 437.5kg total.

Malcolm Martin, another newcomer who contested the -100kg category squatted a 170kg. Unfortunately, Martin was not able to make a total as he bombed out during the bench press. He started with a 150kg bench press attempt but failed to obey the commands during the lifts. However, Martin surely has the strength to demolish the 150kg and 155kg bench press. We are looking forward to see what this lifter has to offer in his next meet.

Alex Atanosov who decided to do a bench only meet, broke the 5 year old  bench press national record which belonged to Mark Formosa. Atanosov lost a lot of weight in order to make it in the under 82.5kg category. He started with 142.5kg, which he failed as the bar slightly dipped during the ascent. However, he shattered the 145kg attempt before narrowly missing his 150kg press.

Maria Debono, who made her second appearance on the MDFPA platform, showed significant progress in her lifting, improving her total by 40kg. Debono squatted 90kg, bench pressed 52.5kg, pulled 117.5kg  and totalled 260kg in the -53kg category. Debono broke the squat, deadlift and total previous records in the under 53kg cateogry who were previously held by Kristen Borg. Debono earned first place overall in the meet while climbing up to third place in the Maltese rankings.

Second place overall was taken by Kristen Borg who lifted in the under 50.5kg category. This was the first time that someone lifted in this cateogry. Borg squatted 85kg, bench pressed an amazing 55kg and pulled a 110kg deadlift. However, Borg managed to lock out a 115kg deadlift but unfortunately was red lighted as she let go of the bar before it touched the floor. Borg is in the 4th place within the premier division of female lifters showing that she lifts big for her bodyweight.

Contesting the under 70kg category, was Fabiana Bermudez Belisario who displayed some great lifting on the platform. Bermudez squatted 95kg, bench pressed 55kg and deadlifted a twice bodyweight deadlift of 135kg. Bermudez obtained the highest female total of the day and scored 225 Schwartz points.

Sarah Mifsud, despite being a newcomer, broke all the previous records in the -55.5kg cateogry and made it to 9th place in the female premier division which is quite a huge achievement. Mifsud went 82.5/47.5/105 and made eight attempts out of nine. She also took a forth attempt in the deadlift where she destroyed a 110kg pull. Mifsud surely would become one of the top female lifters within the MDFPA.

Sonja Iltanen, who is also a newcomer obtained promising results. Iltanen contested the -100kg category which was the first time that someone contested this category. Iltanen failed her first attempt in the squat with 85kg. However she managed to nail it in the second attempt before narrowly failing a 90kg squat. Iltanen, then proceeded to bench 45kg and deadlift 110kg.

Finally a big thanks goes to Kristian Mintoff; centre referee, Steven Dutton and Wayne Gregoraci; side referees (and loaders), Hayley Mizzi; updating the scoresheet and inputting the attempts, Neil Baldacchino, Jeremy Cassar and France Spiteri; loaders and spotters, Darryl Formosa; photographer and Marouska Montebello for the video clips of all the lifts. Without the help of these people, the competition would not have been held.