STEPHEN RICCIO
MANSFIELD ET PONTEFRACT May 5, 2021
Xavier Lusignan, Mansfield et Pontefract’s 17 year-old weightlifting phenom, is training for his first international competition as he prepares to head to Colombia for the Junior Pan American Weightlifting Championships on June 7-11.
Lusignan qualified for the event with his performance at . . .
the Canadian Junior Weightlifting Championships on March 20-21, where he lifted a total of 289 kg (635.8 lbs) between his two lifts: the clean and jerk – 161 kg (354.2 lbs), and the snatch – 128 kg (281.6 lbs).
“I leave with my coach for five days, because the competition is gonna be a five-day thing,” Lusignan explained. “So yeah it’s gonna be a great experience.”
While he is a veteran of lifting competitions, it’s his first opportunity to see the international playing field.
“The goal for us, we don’t really know what to expect from the other competitors that are going to be there because I haven’t competed in an international-level competition,” he continued. “So it’s gonna be a first, but being on the podium would be one of our goals, so we’re aiming, to be on the podium.”
Despite the pandemic, Lusignan said that the travel arrangements are all lined up and good to go.
With his school coming to a close in May, he said that while his training is going smoothly, it’ll be great to have the rest of the month to totally lock in and focus on hitting personal bests in Colombia in June.
“It’ll give me extra time to focus a little bit more on my training and my diet [and] everything,” he said.
Following the event in Toronto that qualified him for Junior Pan Am, Lusignan got another opportunity to compete at a provincial junior lifting championship, which also qualified him for an international event; although he passed up on that opportunity for the more competitive Junior Pan American.
Heading into his third competition of 2021, it’s already been a more productive season than it was in the pandemic-ridden 2020, when he competed just once. Lusignan said it should be a full year of competing, as he hopes to attend two more events this year, following the one in June.
The competition rust could have played a factor in what he previously described to The Equity as a disappointing performance at the event on March 20-21, where he entered the competition hoping to hit a combined weight of 310 kg (682 lbs) lifted but instead reached 289 kg.
“Everything was leaning towards that [310], it’s just that multiple factors added up and it wasn’t the best day,” he said.
Lusignan’s training is centred around doing things in a calculated and smart manner, and not over-exerting himself and attempting to hit personal records outside of competitions.
While it didn’t work out perfectly according to plan at his first event, he’s trusting the process as he prepares for Colombia.
“We train smart and we really focus on technique and by executing the movements as perfectly as possible,” he said. “Through the way our training works is once we enter competitions, we’re not overworked. We just perform because our body, you know we prepare our bodies all these weeks of preparation, all the training camp prepares our body for big weights. Our training method never disappoints, but you know of course there [are] still some days that are going to be more off than others.”
