WORCESTER’S Alison Deeley marked her national weightlifting debut with a promising fourth-place finish in Manchester.

The 21-year-old former Nunnery Wood High School pupil wants to use the experience gained from last weekend’s Exertrain English Weightlifting Championships as a springboard for success.

Deeley, from Aconbury Close in the city, qualified for the event after bagging a silver medal at the Central England Nottingham Weightlifting Open.

Despite heading to Manchester with a sprained wrist, Deeley finished fourth in the senior women’s 53kg section after lifting a combined total of 125kg.

Now Deeley, who trains at Bullpen Fitness five times a week, is hoping to raise the bar at the British Student Weightlifting Championships in the spring.

“I have only been training for 18 months and it was my first national competition, so it was very encouraging because I know I am capable of achieving better,” she said.

“The student championships will double as a British qualifier so, hopefully, my wrist will be better and I will be feeling fresher after better preparation.”

Olympic weightlifting is an discipline in which an athlete attempts a maximum-weight single lift of a barbell loaded with weight plates.

The two competition lifts in order are the snatch and the clean and jerk.

At the English Weightlifting Championships, Deeley lifted 56kg in the snatch and 69kg in the clean and jerk for a combined total of 125kg.

“I have been a casual gym-goer since I was 16 years old and I played football for my school,” she said.

“I enjoy cross-fit and weightlifting is a part of that and that’s how I discovered my passion for Olympic weightlifting.”

Deeley, a third year journalism student at the University of Worcester, is put through strength and conditioning sessions by Fraser McKenzie, who is also her partner.

Her competition coach is Stu Martin, originally from Worcester who now lives in Bournemouth.

She said: “My personal best lift is 60kg in the snatch and 73kg in the clean and jerk. If I can achieve those, I know I can qualify for the British Championships.”