PB delight for former BMX rider who turned to weightlifting

By Max Hall

Crystal Palace weightlifter Sky Norris said she was very happy with her performance at the Commonwealth Games, which saw her claim a personal best on Saturday night.

Becoming Jamaica’s first Commonwealth Games female weightlifter is a long way from the BMX track, where the 4’ 11” lifter appeared set to make her name.

“I started off doing BMX racing when I was 14,” Norris told the South London Press. “I was part of Peckham BMX Club and I was racing for them. How I got into weightlifting was, one of my coaches at the club said that it was time to start doing strength training at the gym, and the gym associated with the club was an old-school weightlifting gym. I started lifting there and started learning Olympic lifting.”

Fast forward a few years and the 23-year-old has been making headlines in Jamaica as she notched personal bests in both the snatch and clean-and-jerk disciplines at Birmingham’s NEC arena on Saturday night.

Norris lifted 74kg on the first of her three attempts at the snatch, failed to lift 77kg on her second but roared back to lift a PB of 78kg on the final attempt.

Her clean and jerk was a more straightforward progression, from 85kg to 88kg en route to a PB of 92kg and sixth place in an event won by Nigerian Adijat Olarinoye.

“My opener was very good,” Norris said today. “It’s the one you want to get in. You don’t want to go too heavy or too light, you just want to get one in so then you can play with the higher weights.

“My second attempt, I was a bit disappointed because I rushed it a bit but I had to come back and get the third one, which I did.

“For clean and jerk, my cleans were good in the warm-up so I was okay with that and I got a PB in that which was very good. Yeah. I’m very happy with that.”

Pictured top: Sky Norris in action at the NEC (Picture: PA Images)