Skelton pushes way into weightlifting elite

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This article was published 09/12/2016 (3467 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A record-setting young weightlifter from Melita is set to debut on the national stage next month.

Rienna Skelton, 15, broke the provincial 20-and-under record in the 58-kilogram division at the Manitoba Open in Lorette on Oct. 1, a record that stood for exactly 52 days before she shattered it again at the provincial championships.

The two performances earned her an invitation to join the provincial team as the top-ranked junior at nationals on Jan. 14 in Brossard, Que. She received an email confirming the good news on Sunday.

“One of the main goals there is just to make all my lifts,” Skelton said of nationals. “It’s a new experience so I just want to go and enjoy myself and meet new people.”

New experience indeed. The soft-spoken teenager only started to focus on weightlifting in June.

Skelton first met her coach Nathan Corrigal when he ran sports conditioning camps and she was trying to get stronger and more fit for volleyball, figure skating and track and field.

“The first day she trained with me she was 12 years old and one of the youngest girls and was training with teenage boys and girls and lifting more than the 17-year-olds,” Corrigal said. “We just knew there was something special about her. We knew that she was really powerful because she was a good sprinter in track. In terms of her overhead movement, she always had really strong arms so it makes sense that she’s good at weightlifting because of her natural strength.”

Now the owner and coach at Southwest Strength, Corrigal has worked with Skelton since they first met. After trying CrossFit, they began to focus on weightlifting five months ago.

Corrigal urged her to try an unsanctioned fun weightlifting meet in Winnipeg, and she immediately loved the experience.

“It’s very friendly,” Skelton said. “Everybody talks amongst everybody else. Everyone cheers you on; it’s very supportive. I like cheering other people on and having them do the same for me.”

The extent to which she has twice broken the 16-year-old junior record gives some insight into the potential of an athlete actually competing in the U17 division. Her final score is determined by adding together her best lift in the snatch with her best lift in the clean and jerk. She gets three opportunities to lift in both categories.

The previous junior record was 110 kg, which the lifter set with a 50-kg snatch and 60-kg clean and jerk.

At the Manitoba Open, Skelton did a snatch of 54 kg and a clean and jerk of 73 kg, pushing the record an incredible 17 kilograms (37 pounds) to 127.

“I felt very accomplished and very satisfied with how I did,” Skelton said.

But she wasn’t finished.

On Nov. 22 at provincials, she snatched 54 kg again but pushed her clean and jerk to 78 kg, setting a new record again at

132 kg. She earned the honour of best overall lifter while topping all of the other women in the higher eight categories too.

To put her lifting into context, the 127-pound athlete lifted 172 pounds in the clean and jerk.

“I knew based on training in the last five weeks before provincials that her clean and jerk went up and that was kind of the goal,” Corrigal said. “I was not surprised she won the province. I was just happy that she was able to hit the numbers I wanted her to hit.”

Not only has her recent performance made her the top-rated junior in Manitoba, she’s second in the senior category.

In fact, Skelton’s performance at provincials would have earned her a silver medal at nationals a year ago, although some of the top athletes from Quebec didn’t make the trip to Regina.

But Corrigal stressed that because she’ll be lifting against athletes who could be four years older at nationals, they’ll set personal goals before they attend and worry about what they can control, adding the best is still ahead of her.

“She’s still a beginner,” Corrigal said. “She’s not even approaching intermediate so the progress is going to be very fast still. Her limiters are her actual leg strength, because she’s very efficient because she’s so athletic.”

In other words, in a technique-based sport, her form is so good that she has to actually gain strength to improve.

The best lifters are generally 25 to 30 years old.

“She’s special because she has something that not a lot of people can have,” he said. “She does things that she can’t explain.

“She’s just super powerful, explosive and I think she’s very driven. She’s 15 years old and she’s been training three days a week for going on two years now and never misses a week. When she’s in there, she has her head down and is very motivated.”

Corrigal said he tries to keep it fun for her but added the sport will get tougher as she continues to train because the exponential gains she’s making now will be replaced by plateaus and much smaller progress that will measured in pounds rather than kilograms.

“It’s going to be a lot of mental training,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure in weightlifting; you only get three attempts at a weight and if you want to win, you’re going to have to start at a load that is not easy.”

Skelton said she doesn’t think a lot of about the act of lifting the weight. She simply does it.

Her own goals are to snatch 140 pounds (63 kg) and clean and jerk 200 pounds (90 kg) while continuing to do her best and learn. And although her friends don’t necessarily understand the sport, she said they’re behind her anyway.

“It’s one of the things that I don’t have in common with a lot of people,” Skelton said. “I can’t really talk about it that much with my friends but they’re very supportive.”

Skelton says she is inspired by her coach and her boyfriend Jack, both of whom push her to be better.

Although her focus is squarely on nationals for now, she plans to enter the CrossFit Open in the spring while also competing in varsity sports at school.

Corrigal said her weightlifting future is bright.

“She’ll compete in international competition sooner rather than later,” he said. “I think she’ll do very well at nationals but I just want her to keep having fun.”

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