A very prestigious result was accomplished by four Maltese lifters at the WDFPF European Championships held in the small town of Oliveto Citra in southern Italy earlier this month.

Malta achieved second place overall in the final standings, beating big nations like France, Belgium, Switzerland and Russia.

The first Maltese lifter to hit the platform was 62 year old Francis Spiteri who competed in the 82.5 kg weight class and in the Master 5 division.

Spiteri made us all proud by squatting 155 kg, setting a new Master 5 European record. He also hit 75 kg in the bench press and deadlifted a very impressive 190 kg.

Next up was last year’s national champion Charles Degiorgio who competed in the under 75 kg category. Degiorgio successfully lifted 180 and 190 kg in his first and second attempts in the squats, just missing a 202.5kg lift due to a technical error, which would have been a new national record for the mentioned weight class.

Degiorgio went on to lift 115 kg in the Bench Press and 230 in the Deadlift, narrowly missing another national record in the deadlift and placing fourth in a very competitive line-up of lifters.

The most notable performance was that of the number one ranked powerlifter in Malta Mario Mifsud who broke his own previous world record in the Deadlift with an incredible 330 kg lift.

Mario had previously squatted 260 kg and benched 177.5 kg for a total of 767.5 kg which enabled him to win his under 125kg weight class.

Kristian Mintoff also proved his worth in the Equipped division.

Mintoff, who was competing in the under 90kg weight class, managed to squat 260 kg, bench 150 kg and and pull an impressive 275 kg Deadlift for a total of 685 kg.

He finished second in his weight category, a very creditable performance on an international level.