Hampshire powerlifting champion Marina returns to the sport

Marina Cornwall, 69, will attend the World Powerlifting Championships in Mongolia in October – one of the first events she has taken part in since she took a break from the sport in 2018 following a family tragedy and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marina says that she feels both anxious and excited about the upcoming competition.

Marina Cornwall has returned to powerlifting after a multi-year absence (Image: Marina Cornwall)READ MORE: Record breaking season for WADAC athletes

She told the Chronicle: “I just really want to lift well and hit my totals. I tweaked my back slightly quite a few weeks back, and so my training was set back a bit as I had to go back to basics, just a bar on its own for example, until my back recovered.

“For me, I just need to go out there, lift well, stay injury-free, win that title and comeback with those gold medals.”

Marina said that the team at Winchester Leisure Centre supported her goals to return to powerlifting (Image: Marina Cornwall)

Marina, who lives in Southampton and works as a self-employed personal trainer at the Winchester Leisure Centre, said that she had received a lot of support from the Everyone Active team.

She said: “They gave me some funds to help get me out to Mongolia because they so want me to go.

“One of the biggest things that they’ve done as well is I set up a GoFundMe page and they kindly promoted it everywhere all over the centre. So, I’m in the café area, I’m in the bathrooms, I’m everywhere! And that has really helped.”

Marina with some of her medals (Image: Marina Cornwall)Despite her age, Marina does not have any plans to give up powerlifting any time soon: “We have a master IV category, which is 70 onwards, so I hope to continue.

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“Just here at Winchester Leisure Centre, we have just done a feature on ‘Age is just a number’ and encouraging people of whatever age to come into the gym to train. It’s very good for our mental health for people like me, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis last year, which was a real shock since I’ve been lifting weights for a long time now, but it's important for all of us to lift weights for our bone density, so I think that’s a really good thing.

“But I hope to carry on competing.”

Marina will leave for the World Powerlifting Championships in Mongolia on October 4, and will compete on October 8.