Bulwell born Emily Campbell lifted her way to a Commonwealth Gold medal yesterday as she set a record-breaking routine and in doing so raising the bar on her own past competition performances at Birmingham’s NEC.
England’s Campbell took gold in the 87kg+ event (the highest for women) ahead of Samoa’s Feagaiga Stowers in second, but in truth, was in a league of her own as she lifted a personal best and commonwealth games record total cumulative of 286kg.
It has been a remarkable rise for the 28 year old who since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she took silver, has taken bronze at the 2021 World Championships, two golds in back to back European Championships (2021 & 22) and now a second commonwealth medal adding to the bronze she won on the Gold Coast in 2018.
Campbell’s snatch at 124kg was three more kilograms than her nearest competitor, the clean and jerk at 162kg a whopping 15kg heavier than silver medalist Stowers who finished with a 268kg total, a good 18kg light of the eventual champion. Australia’s Charisma Amoe Tarrant finishing third to take bronze.
With the Paris Olympics next summer now hugely on the radar for Campbell, the former receptionist who is now a full time athlete backed with lottery funding, stated on her latest fabulous win “It means that I can move closer to the gym now, I’ve got a real plan in place, a real team around me now.”
She continued “Pushing forward towards Paris because we’ve got eyes on another medal in Paris. We want to do everything we can to make sure we’re there in the best shape possible. It’s not gonna be an easy ride.”
Emily was flag bearer for England at the Opening Ceremony on Thursday at the Alexander Stadium and with expectation of the nation to deliver, certainly did what she set out to do.
*Main image @TeamEngland Emily Campbell wins gold with a record-breaking lift for England.
