Mollie King got rid of "safe weights" earlier this year. Photo / Bevan Conley
Mollie King got rid of "safe weights" earlier this year. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui teenager Mollie King now has two national weightlifting records, but they could be the first of many.
King, a Year 11 student at Whanganui Girls’ College, broke the under-15 snatch (73-kilogram) and combined (161kg) records at the recent North Island championships. Combined refers to the total weight lifted inthe snatch and clean and jerk sections.
Her lifts were enough to secure a bronze medal in the junior section.
King said her journey into the sport started when she was around five or six.
“My parents were doing CrossFit and I would go along with my siblings.
“Eventually, they opened up a kids’ class. CrossFit has a whole range of different things, but there is the weightlifting side of things - just the barbell.
“I really enjoyed that part of it.”
She then joined a children’s weightlifting class with two others, before competing in club competitions around the North Island alongside them.
At that stage, she stuck to safe weights and did not fully push herself.
The CrossFit gym closed down two years ago, but King kept being trained by its former owners - Matt Rayner and Karli Kaea-Norman - and she and her family built their own gym in their garage.
Safe weights became a thing of the past at the start of 2023.
“My first competition was in March, where I got a total of 121kg,” King said.
“After that, there were a couple of smaller club competitions and one in Petone, which was a qualifier for nationals.
“I managed to get the total I needed - 141kg. I feel like the reason I’ve kicked off since was I figured out my potential.”
Jumping 20kg in one month was “pretty crazy” because lifters usually only went up 5kg at a time, she said.
Mollie King is Whanganui's only competitive secondary school weightlifter.
She went on to compete in the Auckland Secondary Schools champs at the end of May, lifting 153kg.
That qualified her for the Oceania Junior, Youth and Under-23 Championships in Samoa.
A further 8kg was added by the time the North Island champs arrived on June 10-11 - enough to secure the national records.
King said her dad had done a lot of research into the effect weightlifting had on bodies that were still developing.
“It is actually quite good for young bodies to be doing strength training.
“I’m probably going a bit more over the top with it, but there are quite a few young girls and boys who do weightlifting.
“I haven’t had too many injuries at all. There is a rib in the back of my shoulder that causes a bit of pain, but I go to the chiropractor and he can just click it back into place.”
King will represent Whanganui Girls’ College at the upcoming national secondary schools champs. As far as she knew, she was the only Whanganui secondary school student competing.
Outside of school and a part-time job at a fish and chip shop, training takes up most of her time.
“I also do powerlifting, which is a completely different sport. That is squat, bench and deadlift. I have my first competition in a couple of weeks.
“A couple of my PBs [personal bests] are actually national records but, obviously, you can’t claim them in training.
“Hopefully, I can replicate them.”
There were different milestones to hit as her career progressed, with the end goal being the Olympic Games.
“From here, I want to get to 171kg, which means qualification for the IWF [International Weightlifting Federation] world champs.
“I need to add on 10kg, but considering I’ve jumped 39kg since the beginning of the year, I reckon I can do it.”
Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
