University of Nottingham students lift medals as well as weights in BUCS & European competition
Student athletes from the University of Nottingham lifted large levels of weights at the 2025 BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Weightlifting Championships, with their performances resulting in a number of medals. Competing at Brunel University in London across the 3rd and 4th April, our team of Nottingham weight lifters aimed to best the top student athletes in the UK.
Published 23 Apr 2025
Photography credit: British Weight Lifting
With both male and female weight lifters representing the University of Nottingham at the championships, the green and gold saw plenty of action with entrants in a number of categories across the two days of competition.
Sport scholar and former Commonwealth champion Sarah Davies displayed all of her class and experience in the women's 71kg competition, winning gold in comfortable fashion. Davies lifted 100 in the snatch, and registered 128 in the clean and jerk for a total of 228 - 71 more than the athlete in second.
Following these championships, Sarah travelled to the 2025 European Weightlifting Championships in Chisinau, Moldova and achieved a career-high by winning her first European title. Competing in the women's 64 kg category, the 32-year-old delivered a world class performance to place sixth in the snatch with 96, gold in the clean and jerk with 127, and take gold overall with a total of 223. Alongside this, Sarah's Nottingham team mate and sport scholar Isabella Brown won senior European Snatch bronze after lifting 100kg in an impressive performance.
Returning to London and the 2025 BUCS Weightlifting Championships, Nottingham's Diani Hall would also register an impressive score of over 200 in the women's 81kg competition, a total that also bested her competition resulting in top spot on the podium and a well earned gold medal.
In the men's competitions, Edward Smale entered the 89kg category, alongside fellow Nottingham lifter Henry Hawkes. Smale would score 304 - 138 in the snatch, and 166 in the clean and jerk - to also register an emphatic victory over his competition and claim another BUCS gold medal. Hawkes would finish in the top eight with a score of 225.
Nottingham lifters would also add two more gold medals in the men's 109kg and men's >109kg events. Oliver Jackson broke the 300 mark to secure a magnificent first place in the 109kg, leading the pack in both the snatch and clean and jerk lifts. Meanwhile, Jasper Hilton would reach a score of near 350 to win gold in the >109kg category, finishing 40 points ahead of his competition.
Finally, in the men's 96kg competition, William Galloway would be Nottingham's single entrant, with Galloway delivering superb effort across both lifts to score 265 - enough to finish third and deservedly earn a bronze medal.
Overall the efforts of University of Nottingham students at the 2025 BUCS Weightlifting Championships resulted in six medals, five of which were gold medals. Everyone at the university congratulates our athletes and support staff on these highly impressive results that help to solidify Nottingham's presence at the top of UK university weightlifting.
To find out more about these championships and see all of the results from the weekend, please visit the official BUCS website by clicking here.
You can also keep up to date with the achievements of our University of Nottingham Weightlifting Club by following them on social media here.
Notes for editors
University of Nottingham are the top UK University for team sport, placing 2nd in the overall British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings in the 2023/24 season. For more information on our performance sport offer, including scholarships and support for student athletes, please click here.