Competitive teen dancer becomes national level weightlifter. Globalnews.ca

Bella Thompson-Hill has never seen herself throwing a barbell weighing more than herself.

“I just love it because it makes me feel great,” Thompson-Hill said. “It makes me feel strong.”

The 17-year-old was a lifelong competitive dancer, but when she started getting involved with the sport, Thompson-Hill didn’t give up the prospect of switching to CrossFit full-time and lifting weights, That was 21 months ago.

“The first two weeks were really tough for me,” Thompson-Hill. “I had never touched a barbell in my life. I had very rough hands.”

Thompson-Hill is part of the CrossFit 306’s high-performance teen program. Once she started training consistently for 2.5 hours four times a week, it didn’t take long for her natural talents to shine through.

“She listens carefully to all the prompts and feedback we give and she really tries and applies it,” said Thompson-Hill coach Jason Cain. “She’s also incredibly hardworking.”

In her second year in the sport, Thompson-Hill qualified for the Junior National Weightlifting Championships held in Quebec in early June.

Representing Team Saskatchewan, he entered the meet, placing first in his weight category.

“I hit 89 (kilograms) and that’s when I knew I had won,” Thompson-Hill said. “I was quite thrilled. I was like, ‘Let’s go and let’s do 92 (kg).’ I had more lift left and it went really well.”

Her 92kg clean and jerk and 71kg snatch gave her a combined score of 163.

That score was good enough for a national gold medal and provincial and national records. Thompson-Hill’s success came as no surprise to her coach—who was also there nationally.

“You don’t become a Canadian champion by skipping workouts or skipping reps,” Cain said. “She does everything we entrust her to do every single day that she comes in.”

Thompson-Hill’s potential in weightlifting is limitless as she is still far from the pinnacle in the sport and only started less than two years ago.

She has big dreams but she always reminds herself why she wakes up in the first place.

“I would love to participate in international competitions one day,” Thompson-Hill said. “Honestly I just do it because I love it so much.”