Former Winmalee resident Yasmin Carter is only 16 but she is already going from strength to strength in Australian weightlifting, is emerging as an elite CrossFit athlete and even has her own health, nutrition and fitness blog.
Taking up competition-level weightlifting just 12 months ago, Carter made the NSW weightlifting junior representative team in March and went on to win a gold medal at the AWF National Youth Championships in June.
That result gained her selection in Australia's team for the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa that begin on September 5, where she will compete in the 58kg class.
"I kind of fired up when it counted and was well-prepared by my long-term personal trainer Luke Baranowski and NSW coach Rob Mitchell," Carter said.
"My best results tend to happen when I'm competing rather than than training - I think I respond well to the pressure and step up."
Carter snapped 59kg and clean and jerked 79kg to win at the nationals and is hoping to lift her form another notch in Samoa.
"Personally I'm hoping to lift 60kg [in the snatch] and 80kg [in the clean and jerk] at the Games as that's close to my personal bests, but I have no idea of how I'll go against athletes from other countries," she said.
"It will be a new thing for me and I just hope to enjoy it, suss it out and do my best.
"My normal weight is 62kg, so about two weeks before each tournament I have to cut down about 4kg, which is always a hard challenge, but the weigh-in is a big part of the sport.
"You get through that and then your coaches make a plan for you and you go about implementing it as best you can."
Carter, who now lives in Bondi, is also a highly ranked CrossFit competitor and came ninth for her age group at the 2015 CrossFit Australian Open.
"I kind of go through separate seasons for weightlifting and CrossFit, but overall they do work in conjunction and I love doing all the drills and the gym work - it's become my passion.
"I started a fitness blog on Instagram last year and found that other teens began asking me training questions and it just flowed into my own blog [www.yasicarter.com].
"It's taken off and I really enjoy developing new stuff to put up about health and fitness."
Carter is a former Winmalee Primary School student and still has family in the Mountains.
