Local weightlifter qualifies for Euro U23 next year
By Sarah Slevin
Ailbhe Mulvihill is set for Europe after being crowned Best Lifter and Irish U23 Champion at the Weightlifting Ireland competition.
A number of Mullingar athletes took part in the Weightlifting Ireland Championships in Cork on November 27 last. From Mullingar Weightlifting, Ailbhe Mulvihill impressed, coming away with an Irish U23 title in her weight category, as well as an U23 record and the overall best female lifter title.
“It’s all based on age and weight, and my category is 59kg/U23 and there would be seven or eight of us in that category,” Ailbhe said.
“On the day, I won best female lifter overall in the competition and I won my own category as well, and I got three national records.”
Ailbhe has now qualified to represent Ireland at European level, having reached the qualifying total set by Weightlifting Ireland.
She needed a combined total for her ‘snatch’ and ‘clean and jerk’ of 150kg to lift for Ireland internationally.
“On the day I got 151kg and now I’ll be able to go to Albania next October to represent Ireland in the U23s European Champions,” Ailbhe said.
Ailbhe was delighted with her results but told the Westmeath Examiner that on the day lifters have an idea of how they might do beforehand.
“The opening list comes out a few days beforehand, and you can see what weights people are opening on, so you can gauge from that whereabout you’re ranking,” Ailbhe said.
“On the day, I was the last lifter, so it was clear that what I was lifting was heavier than those before me. I knew myself that it was between me and one other girl who had not gone yet.”
Ailbhe has been making solid progress but said she is not looking at world level just yet.
“There are senior European championships before that and we’ll be hoping to work towards that first, without putting too much pressure on myself for anything because seniors are everyone over 23, which is a huge stage and a nice goal to set without pressure,” Ailbhe said.
Ailbhe started weightlifting when she was 16 but had a setback when she injured her back, so took a few years before coming back to it while studying physio in UL.
The Ballinea native has always trained with Mullingar Weightlifting and had nothing but praise for the atmosphere there.
“They have a massive group of youths, it’s incredible to see the club growing. Now when I go in, there are eight- and nine-year-olds lifting over 20kg – it’s insane! And great to see,” Ailbhe said.
“It’s a great atmosphere down there and everyone is very supportive of each other.”