It may be her second appearance at the IWF World Championship, but Yazmin Zammit Stevens is still the only Maltese to compete at this prestigious event, this time in Pattaya, Thailand.

Zammit Stevens will compete against some of the best female athletes from around the world at the highest level of competition in weightlifting.

The IWF World Championships is taking place from the 16th-27th September with Yazmin competing in the snatch and clean and jerk on the 23rd of September at 6 am (Malta time).

And she’ll be performing in one of the most stunning locations in the world…

 

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??In yet another beautiful country I’ve never been to, on my way to my 2nd World Championships, feeling happy and strong ?? #nottakinganyofthisforgranted ? . #phuket #thailand #worldchampionships

A post shared by ?????? ?????? ??????? (@yazmin.stevens) on Sep 16, 2019 at 11:06pm PDT

Malta’s weightlifting queen made her first appearance at the IWF last year in Ashgabat where she finished in a prestigious 5th place. She hopes to beat last year’s result despite a recent injury.

“Being here, for the second year in a row… after dealing with an injury that was meant to keep me out for months only 10 weeks ago… I just honestly feel blessed.”

Yazmin’s injury forced the athlete to be more conservative in the lead up to next week’s meet which will see her competing at a new weight class of 71kg.

She’s been keeping her fans updated with her training progress and, to be honest, she looks more than ready…

 

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??ROUTINE 103KG?? after 8 singles at 95kg and 100kg ? EJJA ĦA MMORRU THAILAND ?? . #weightlifting #weightlifter #cleanandjerk #snatch #adidas #hookgrip #atg #strong #ready

A post shared by ?????? ?????? ??????? (@yazmin.stevens) on Sep 11, 2019 at 10:29am PDT

“Usually I’m a 64kg but since I was injured we didn’t want to put my body through an intense weight cut, so I’m competing as a 71kg, weighing in at 69-ish.”

Despite this shift in weight class, nothing is going to stop this athlete from going all out and getting out gold, especially since any points hit at the IWF will go towards Yazmin’s ultimate goal at Olympic qualification in Tokyo 2020.

This is also the last IWF Championships before Tokyo 2020, so the pressure is on.

“Being the only Maltese person to ever come to Worlds, it’s honestly insane. I’m still trying to take it all in.”

With only a few days to go, Yazmin is locked in and ready to go. We can’t wait to see how well she performs!

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