Irish Para powerlifting continues to succeed with three athletes returning home from the World Cup with medals. The Para Powerlifting World Cup took place from June 20th-26th, with six Irish athletes in action in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Cork native, Ruairi Devlin competed in the Next Gen Up to 72kg Category. Devlin set a new lifetime best, lifting 93kg, which in turn was enough for him to claim a silver medal for total lifted and another silver overall.
Angela Long dominated the Legends Up to 73kg category, sealing a silver medal for total lifted and bronze medal overall. An outstanding performance in her first international competition in almost a year. Her first lift of 72kg cleared, she went on to beat her lifetime best in quick succession, lifting 74kg and then 76kg on her two follow-up lifts.
Cavan up and comer, Casey Fitzgerald added to the Irish medal tally, grabbing double-gold for total lifted and overall in the Next Gen Up to 73kg category. Her first lift set a new lifetime best, with 79kg and upped it again to 82kg on the second lift before wrapping up her competition with another attempt to set a new lifetime best of 85kg but was marked down on the press sequence.
Tokyo Paralympian Britney Arendse moved up a weight class for this World Cup and aimed to all but seal her spot for the games in Paris this summer. Competing in the Up to 79kg category, Arendse kept herself ranked within the World top 8 when she cleanly lifted 126kg.
IWA-Sport Ambassador, Niamh Buckley was in action and despite a strong training camp leading up to the competition, Buckley unfortunately failed to lift 73kg on each of her three attempts in the Up to 61kg category. Teammate, Sean Hughes succumbed to the same fate in the Up to 88kg category, where he was unable to lift 147kg on his three attempts.
Credit: IWA Sport
