{"id":406323,"date":"2024-03-04T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=406323"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Leowell-finishes-3rd-in-2024-Oceania-Weightlifting-Champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Leowell-finishes-3rd-in-2024-Oceania-Weightlifting-Champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Leowell finishes 3rd in 2024 Oceania Weightlifting Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weightlifter Leowell Cristobal struck first in the medal haul for the six-man CNMI Weightlifting Federation team with a bronze medal in the 2024 Oceania Senior, Junior, and Youth Championships that was held in Auckland, New Zealand from Feb. 17 to 25.<\/p>\n

In the senior men\u2019s 67-kg weight class, the U.S. Air Force airman airlifted a 100-kg snatch and 137 kg in the clean & jerk for a total of 237 kg weight lifted.<\/p>\n

It was deja vu as gold was claimed by Samoan Vaipava Nevo Ioane\u2019s 282-kg overall lift, and silver went to Nauru\u2019s Ditto Ika who lifted a total of 255 kg. It was a repeat of the 67-kg clean & jerk podium finish in the 2023 Pacific Games last November in the Solomon Islands.<\/p>\n

Cristobal said of the competition, \u201cthe competition atmosphere was electric and I was having fun out there.\u201d His 100-kg snatch and 237-kg total is now his new personal bests for international competitions.<\/p>\n

He thanked his family and friends for cheering him on and the CNMI Weightlifting Federation for allowing him to compete and represent the CNMI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to thank Angel San Nicolas for helping me throughout my competition, making sure I was ready to hit my lifts on the stage, and Aiden Gimed for pushing me in training,\u201d said the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cLastly, I want to give a happy advance birthday to my dad and anniversary to my parents!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Before the 2024 Oceania Championships, he competed in the 2023 International Weightlifting Federation Grand Prix II, which was held on Dec. 4-14 in Doha, Qatar.<\/p>\n

He failed to reach the podium but competed against the best in the sport and placed ninth in the clean & jerk portion with a best of 138 kg. He placed 12th in the snatch lift with a best of 94 kg.<\/p>\n

There, he was \u201chappy\u201d with his performance and said, \u201cI\u2019m grateful to be given the opportunity to compete amongst the best in the world. There\u2019s a lot of lessons learned for sure that I took with me in helping me improve and be prepared for the 2024 Oceania Championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Leowell Cristobal completes a successful lift during the 2024 Oceania Senior, Junior, and Youth Championships that was held in Auckland, New Zealand from Feb. 17 to 25.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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Weightlifter Leowell Cristobal struck first in the medal haul for the six-man CNMI Weightlifting Federation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-406323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}