On Saturday 14 May, Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) A Level student Bella Brown won 6th place at the IWF (International Weightlifting Foundation) World Junior Championships, in Athens, Greece taking part in the Womens 76kg category.

Bella smashed the U20 British records for her snatch, clean & jerk lift total.

In the snatch position, she lifted 86, 87 and 90kg and in the clean and jerk, Bella lifted 105 and 108kg – this gave her a total of 198kg, putting her 6th place overall in the competition.

She has been competing in weightlifting competitions since September 2019, during which, she immediately broke a British lifting record.

Bella was ecstatic to have done so well in the championships, explaining “The next international competition will be in October for the Junior European Championship, where I will be looking to take home a medal.

“I did not expect the result I achieved in Greece as my ranking going in was much lower, but I am so proud of how I managed to push myself up the leader board.

Since then, she has gone onto compete at various other competitions all around the country, continuing breaking several records including ‘Snatch, Clean and Jerk’ and ‘Total’ within her age group in the World Youth Championships.

Caroline Ludbrook, Head of Sixth Form at RuTC is impressed with Bella’s abilities both inside and out of the classroom explaining, “Bella is both a fantastic, dedicated student, as well as athlete. We at the College, are immensely proud of her accomplishments and we look forward to watching her progress within her weightlifting career.”

In addition, Bella is a British Champion, top-ranked under 17 female weightlifter, regardless of weight class.

Team GB entered only 6 athletes into the recent World Junior Championships and following the competition, Bella was declared as top-ranked finisher of the team.

Learn more about studying A Levels at RuTC here.