Ashley earns gold at Oceania championships
She sported a beaming smile after her last lift and made a little bow towards the judges.
Ashley Kolomoisky stayed cool in the heat of competition in Auckland last week to earn her first individual gold medal for Australia in weightlifting.
The 17-year-old, who competes in under-59kg junior (U20) women’s events, had won silvers in the sport’s 2023 Commonwealth and Oceania championships, in India and Samoa respectively.
That valuable experience helped her to go one better at the 2024 Oceania event, coming first with a combined total of 162kg, just in front of fellow Aussie Monique Hilborn (158kg) and Fijian Claris Turanivalu (115kg).
Despite looking a bit frustrated immediately after narrowly saving her first snatch attempt of 68kg after becoming off balance on her feet, Kolomoisky was able to put that shaky start out of her mind and finish the strongest, nailing all five of her remaining lifts with confidence.
Kolomoisky’s top snatch lift of 73kg equalled the Victorian under-59kg youth record, her top clean & jerk lift of 89kg bettered the Victorian youth record by 2kg, as did her combined total.
She sported a beaming smile after her last lift and made a little bow towards the judges.
Kolomoisky told The AJN on Tuesday, “I was able to stay very chilled because I had full trust in the coach [Caity Haniver] and I listened to her advice between my lifts.”
“It also helped that I focused just on doing my absolute best and that if my Aussie teammate and main competitor there [Hilborn] was still going to be too good on the day, then that would be okay.”
Kolomoisky said another highlight of her 2024 Oceania experience was getting to meet and watch, the Oceania under-57kg senior women’s champion – Australian Olympian Kiana Elliott – and Commonwealth Games Australian rep Brenna Kean.
“That was pretty cool, as I really look up to them.”
Kolomoisky has qualified for the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships later this year and said her longer term goal is to compete at next year’s junior worlds.
Also in Auckland last week, fellow Jewish Melburnian, 48-year-old Leora Yates, contributed to Australia winning the masters tri-nations event in the women’s category.
Although her individual results in the over-87kg division were well below her best, the former masters world champion’s participation was inspirational in itself, given her circumstances.
The gym she owns and works at, Bayside Fitness and an adjoining business, were destroyed in a fire on January 23.
After returning from Auckland, Yates revealed on Instagram that she “had been sitting on the fence with this comp for the last month” and she thanked everyone who supported her.
“This comp was not about the numbers on the bar, but about resilience and strength … I am super proud that I turned up.”
In more good news for Jewish athletes in the sport – this time in Sofia, Bulgaria – Israel impressed with a four-medal haul at the 2024 European Championships.
Nicole Rubanovich, 25, starred in the women’s 76kg bodyweight division, winning silver in the snatch (117kg lift), silver overall (216kg total) and bronze in the clean & jerk (99kg lift).
Her countrywoman, Celia Gold, claimed silver in the women’s 71kg clean & jerk.
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