Following her recognition as the Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month for October, weightlifter Tenishia Thornton has now earned the prestigious distinction of Atlas Youth Athlete of the Year Award for 2024. The ceremony took place on Thursday, the 13 th of February, 2025, at Atlas head office.
This marks the third occasion Thornton has received this honour, having previously won the inaugural award in 2020 and again in 2023. Nineteen-years-old Thornton won this prestigious trophy, following a combined decision from a panel of three sports journalists and a public online vote conducted over recent weeks on social media pages. Runners-up are young talented athletes from blackball and sailing.
Continental Champion at the 2024 Junior European Championships in Raszyn, Poland, Thornton won this title, in the 64 Kg category, following a standout performance in the snatch, with 89 Kg, a successful attempt at 112 Kg, in the clean and jerk and a total lift of 201 kg, with which she surpassed competitors from Spain and Romania, who completed their totals with 194 and 193 kg, respectively.
Tenishia Thornton was officially presented the annual award and the sports apparel voucher by the CEO and Managing Director of Atlas Insurance Matthew von Brockdorff and Chief Commercial Officer Robert Micallef. The Malta Sports Journalists Association was represented by General Secretary Lorraine Cunningham and Administrator Stephen Azzopardi.
Meanwhile, Atlas Insurance has confirmed the renewal of its collaboration with the Malta Sports Journalists Association for another year in relation to the youth athlete awards initiative which is aimed at encouraging and promoting young Maltese athletes.
These awards are a joint initiative of the Malta Sports Journalists Association and Atlas Insurance. The adjudicating panel of this award takes note of all the youths’ achievements of the month under review and at the same time it invites local sport associations and federations to send in their nominations for consideration if they feel that any of their under-21 athletes have distinguished themselves during that month. All the monthly winners are eligible for the annual award.
Malta Weightlifting President Jesmond Caruana commented the festive context with joy and satisfaction: “The work we have done in recent years to develop weightlifting at the level of young talents has generated this successful result. Our young people are bringing important international results and these are followed with interest by our community and the sports press. We have changed many important things, but, in particular, the training system and these measures have yielded results, compared to previous years when we managed to participate in competitions, but without registering special results or at the level of the current ones. It is nice to see recognition after the sustained work combined with the personal activities and schooling of our athletes, which we have not neglected. It is like a gift on another gift.
I am glad that sport in Malta, in general, enjoys such attention, which is confirmed even by the National Sports Press Association, which analyzes in detail the results and impact of these beautiful performances of our athletes. We are one of the top sports in Malta and I hope that this will help us to develop and equip the new weightlifting hall in the Marsa Sports Complex, which we have already started with the support of the Maltese authorities and that of the EWF and IWF. We are generating emulation and I am convinced that we will attract many young people to our beautiful sport soon.”
The Maltese Weightlifting Federation is one of the most active on our continent, despite its small size. This year, it will be again on the international competition calendar, between 21 and 24 March, as the organizer and host of the 46th edition of the European Small Nations and the Malta International Open, tournaments that are expected to attract athletes from several countries from Europe.
The EWF extends its most sincere congratulations to athlete Tenishia Thornton, coach and President of the National Federation, Jesmond Caruana and all those involved for these special and extremely important successes for the young generation of athletes.