It was a triumphant approach to holiday season for AS Monaco Weightlifting. The trainer’s vision is paying off. Jea Canestrier had decided to use the regional competitions in Nice in November and Villeneuve-Louber in December to prepare his athletes for the higher levels they are training hard to progress to.

And at Villeneuve-Louber, the plan unfolded perfectly as the podium was full of AS Monaco victorious weightlifters. The victories were that much more striking in that two of them were new faces brought to the tournament by Jea. Julie Ortega and Evelyn Martin, young novices, made sure of their lifts. We will certainly be looking out for them in future as they both placed first in their weight categories. Evelyn left her mark on the event by posting the best performance of all the women. Indeed, she is shy by a mere 7 kg of the minimum weight lifted by the “France Elites”. With determination and hard work Evelyn has a real opportunity to reach the “France Elites” minimum benchmark by the end of the season. Julie Ortega and Evelyn Martin – names to watch for the future.

And in the seniors, Lea Monoyer has progressed well, lifting the bar so much higher than in her first competition of the season. Lea has now reached the creditable National 2 level.

And virtually a clean sweep was the conclusion of AS Monaco Young Men’s lifts of the day by Artolli, Canestrier, Battaglia, Ramos and Kesavanambi. The result was that AS Monaco virtually monopolized the podium with one second place and podium wins by all their youngsters.

So there were a lot of reasons to hang trophies on the Christmas tree in the December break and be proud. And then after the festivities, back to an intense training regimen. There is a tough season ahead.