Kiana Elliott (weightlifting) made her Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham where she finished 4th In the women’s 71kg. That came off a strong showing at her debut Olympics in Tokyo a year earlier where she finished 11th in the 64kg in her on her 24th birthday. Kiana started in gymnastics aged 6 before recurring injuries led her to weightlifting when she was 14 where she was mentored by Lester Keene, who competed for New Zealand at the Auckland 1990 Commonwealth Games. She found herself quickly climbing up the junior rankings, finishing 7th at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics, bronze at the 2015 Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea – her first senior competition – then 34th at her first world championships. After missing selection for the Rio 2016 Olympics, she won bronze in the 63kg at the Junior World Championships. Keene returned to New Zealand in 2016 and she is now coached by another New Zealander, Martin Harlowe at the Triumph Weightlifting Club in Adelaide. In 2019, Elliott claimed gold at the Pacific Games and the Oceania Championships, before going on to silver at the Commonwealth Championships. Elliot set her PBs in clean & jerk PB (120kg), snatch (100kg) and total (220kg) all at the Singapore International in February 2022.