13-year-old girl crowned u15 English weightlifting champion

Stevie McNulty, 13, from Salisbury, has been lifting for just two years. She competed in the under-15s category of the England age group championships, held by British Weightlifting on Saturday, February 24.

The championships were held in Maidstone, where Stevie competed in a group of 13 girls and was ranked highest in her age and weight category.

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lifting some serious iron, she achieved 51kg in the snatch discipline and 63kg in the clean and jerk, both of which were her personal bests.

Stevie competes in the competition (Image: Nikki McNulty)

After lifting a total of 114kg, Stevie ranked first in the competition and was crowned the national champion of the under-15s category, despite being just 13 years old. 

Stevie's mother, Nikki McNulty, told the Journal: "Stevie has been weightlifting for two years. At just 10 years old, at a family wedding reception, she walked over her daddy, picked him up and told us all she was going to be a weightlifter one day.

"And it all followed from there. We found a local club, Kingdom Barbell, who said they would give her a session and see how she got on. They were pretty impressed with how much natural strength she had, but also the determination she showed.

Stevie with her gold medal (Image: Nikki McNulty)

"For the next 2 years, she trained under the coaching of Oli Icely-Brown, of Kaizen weightlifting.

"Oli and Stevie worked very hard during this time, working on the techniques of Olympic weightlifting and strength training. Stevie finally qualified for the English age group championships in January this year."

Having smashed the competition, Stevie now looks to the future, hoping to continue her winning streak.

Nikki added: "In the future, Stevie would like to qualify for the British championships in October, and hopefully be selected for the youth GB development team."