Laurel Hubbard decides weightlifting future

New Zealand's Laurel Hubbard. Photo / Photosport

Laurel Hubbard is back and lifting weights again, preparing for the national championships in Papatoetoe this month.

Hubbard, best known as the country's first transgender international athlete, suffered a potentially career-ending injury, essentially wrecking her left elbow at the Commonwealth Games last April.

However surgery, plus a strong desire to get back into the sport, has the 40-year-old back on the platform.

"She did it good and proper," Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand high performance boss Simon Kent said of the injury.

"But the rehab has gone really well, nothing has been rushed. It's certainly still very much early days but she's done a couple of club competitions, found her enjoyment back on the platfor and stared to get confidence back in the elbow."

Kent describes the nationals, which run from September 21-23, as another stepping stone for the two-time world championship silver medallist.

Hubbard is still competing in the 90kg and over class, the same in which she was lifting at the Gold Coast Games when the injury happened attempting her clean and jerk.

Hubbard isn't doing interviews, but Kent said trying to make predictions for what the future holds in the sport for her is tricky.

"If we're talking about a 21-22-year-old, then you can probably semi-safely make some predictions because of the healing," he said.

"But we're talking about a 40-year-old who has done a remarkable job just to get to the point where she's back on the platform. So we'll see what she can do at the nationals and then re-evaluate and see what it's looking like from there."

Kent pointed out that the severity of the damage Hubbard did may have oddly worked in her favour.

"The surgeon has gone in and put things back together, rather than do a patchup job."

Kent clearly has an admiration for Hubbard's determination to be more than a Trivial Pursuit question.

"She's a true student of the sport. She loves it.

"She was always going to give it a go to try and see how the body would hold up.

"It's testament to the work the surgeon did and the rehab she put in that's she's been able to get to this point whre she can walk back out onto the platform with some confidence."

The nationals have drawn serious numbers, with 64 men and 65 women entered across a wide diversity.

Among the men there'll be plenty of attention on Commonwealth champion David Liti in the 105kg and over class.

Liti, one of the characters of New Zealand Games team, will be off to the senior world championships in November in Turkmenistan as part of a New Zealand team of perhaps five lifters and looking to nail a Tokyo Olympic qualifying performance.

"He's pretty exciting," Kent said. "He's in good shape, training well and aiming to put together a solid 18 months."

The nationals also include promising 17-year-old Kanah Andrews-Nahu who is shortly heading to the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.