Over the weekend, the Australian Senior National Weightlifting Championships took place at the Quaycentre in NSW, where many of the nation’s top lifters showcased their talents. Oasis was proudly represented by three dedicated athletes: Elise Schack, Bianca Hansen, and Will Brown. Each of them put forth the best performances on the day and considering they'd all had their various battles throughout the year the club couldn't be prouder of their efforts.
ELISE SCHACK WOMENS 71KG CLASS
Elise had an absolute day out making 5 of 6 lifts placing her 4th and only missing out on a medal by 1kg. He snatch session was simply amazing. She nailed both her first and second attempts at 75kg and 78kg respectively and finished with a personal best 81kg 3rd attempt.
This left her in 3rd place and positioned well to medal. She made a powerful 101kg clean and Jerk then narrowly missed a 103kg attempt with small press out on the jerk, leaving her in 4th position. The session itself was an experience for Elise. Having to manage long waits between attempts was a new experience but she never panicked and was able to stick to the plan. In the end she pushed her rival from NSW to the limit forcing her to make an extremely hard attempt to secure the bronze medal.
Considering Elise only fully committed to weightlifting just over a year ago. I remember her texting me how amazing it would be to make a senior championship one day and to make the next year is an extraordinary effort.
BIANCA HANSEN W76 CLASS
Trying to document in words what Bianca has been able to achieve so far in weightlifting with the hand she's been dealt is effectively impossible. I've had my doubts at times but if there's one thing I've learnt about coaching B it's that she loves nothing more than proving me wrong. Pretty simply we tuned up with a plan to control what we could and give Bianca the best opportunity to perform with whatever cards we had.
On Bianca's recent training form I was hoping we could secure a snatch somewhere in the high 80's which we did at 87. She was close with her 3rd attempt securing 90kg above her head, however she then decided to do Moldova a favor by running the barbell forward in and attempt to take out the jury and Pedro Sanches. In the end this left us a little further behind than I was hoping but not out of the running.
In the clean and jerk session we took the opportunity to open up before the session got out of control and secure Bronze. The plan was to sit back and let the other two lifters "in their battle for first" push too far and create an opening for Bianca to swoop in and improve her position. When one of the other lifters missed her last two attempts it left Bianca the opportunity to steal silver with a clutch 109KG clean and jerk. On another day a shot at gold may have been a possibility but to walk away in 2024 with a Senior National Silver medal is an amazing achievement. There's always 2025..
WILL BROWN M1109+ CLASS
For Will it just hasn't been his year. He's had his own injuries and health battles and only made a last minute decision to attempt to qualify 3 days before the cut off. Honestly I think he may have trained 10 times in 3 months so to simply qualify for the event off that preparation defies logic, but on the other hand he's Will Brown and he's superhuman.....
In the end going 126 and 160 is around what he was hitting in training, it was almost enough for a medal and shows that the talent is always there.
As a club, we are fully behind Will as and athlete and friend and committed to supporting him in his endeavors to reach his full potential. We know that with the right mindset and encouragement, he can overcome any challenges and achieve anything in the sport of weightlifting.
SPECIAL NOTE.. BIG Z
A further congratulations to our Sunday afternoon Oasis training buddy Big Zoran Jankovski who secured a silver medal in the m109+ category. I'm not sure if the 172 was a PB but even if it wasn't it was a fantastic lift and the best form I've seen from him on the platform. Congrats to both Z and his coach Natalia.
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