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PA Media/dpaLondon Emily Campbell claimed weightlifting gold in the women’s +87kg category at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.The 28-year-old set a new personal best and Games record of 124kg in the snatch portion of the event, three kilograms clear of reigning champion Feagaiga Stowers of Samoa.In front of a packed crowd at the NEC, the duo traded Games records with their opening clean-and-jerks, before Stowers failed on 154kg to confirm the gold medal for Campbell.With two lifts still to go, Campbell raised the bar again with a successful lift of 157lb, before rounding off her competition by executing 162kg, a new Commonwealth record that eclipsed her total score in the Tokyo Olympics by three kilograms.Campbell had taken bronze on the Gold Coast four years ago, behind gold medallist Stowers, and it soon became apparent that the 21-year-old Samoan would be the biggest threat to her hopes of claiming the title on home soil.Stowers matched Campbell’s opening snatch lift of 117kg, but failed in her first attempt at 121kg, which allowed the Nottingham weightlifter – with successive lifts of 121kg then a new Games record of 124kg - to move ahead at the halfway stage of the competition.And there was little doubt about Campbell’s dominance as she delivered three consecutive clean-and-jerks to roar to victory in front of a delighted packed home crowd.
