Jackson Young (weightlifting) made his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham where he finished 5th in the men’s 109kg division, gambling everything on a final clean & jerk effort of 211kg which would have earned him a bronze medal and the Games record. Jackson, who started lifting while playing American football, finished 13th overall at the 2016 IWF Junior World Championships – his first international competition – just 15 months after taking up the sport. He then went on to claim a silver and three bronze medals from the 2019 Pacific Games and Oceania Championships. The big Sydneysider finished 14th at the 2021 World Championships in Tashkent – and third among Commonwealth lifters – with a total of 337kg. Coached by Peter Upham at Shire Speed and Strength in Sydney, Jackson set his PBs in snatch (151kg), clean & jerk (200kg) and total (351kg) at the NSW Senior Championships in May 2021, then improved his clean & jerk to 202kg in Birmingham.