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Name: Sergio Massidda
Location: Sardinia, Italy
Weight Category: -55kg/-61kg
Age: 18
Sergio Massidda comes across as a very positive and focused competitor from the supportive home town of Ghilarza, Sardinia. He is the current Youth & Junior World Champion and European Junior Champion (-55kg). Competing in the Youth, Junior and Senior World Championships last year. He was the youngest lifter in his group by almost 4 years at the Senior World Championships in Thailand last year, where he beat the Youth Snatch World Record, previously held by Bulgarian lifter, Rusev. Sergio's win in Fiji was also quite special as for his world title he was awarded the gold medal by Antonio Urso (EWF President), who announced it as a "historic result", as it was "the first junior title in Blue weightlifting history".
2019 (Mar) Youth Worlds - Las Vegas: 103/125/228 - Gold (-55kg)
2019 (Jun) Junior Worlds - Fiji: 102/131/233 - Gold (-55kg)
2019 (Sep) Senior Worlds - Thailand: 109/135/244 - Youth Snatch WR (-55kg)
2019 (Dec) Youth Europeans - Israel: 107/125/232 - Gold (-55kg)
2020 (Jan) Senior World Cup - Rome: 110/140/250 - Bronze (-61kg)
2017 Youth World Championships
Sergio graciously took some time out of his schedule to answer our questions, here is our interview below:
CS: What age did you start weightlifting and how did you get into it?
Sergio: I started weightlifting at 14 years old by going to train at a Crossfit gym.
CS: Who is your coach and what is the best advice they have given you? Have you had the same coach since you started?
Sergio: My coach is Sebastiano Corbu (the coach of the Italian national team) and he has always taught me this sport, all the way from the basics. He has always helped and supported me. One of the best tips he has always given me is not to be afraid to lift but to hold the barbell with confidence and determination.
CS: What have been your most difficult and favourite experiences so far in your career?
Sergio: I have never had any difficult experiences. However I have had many battles on the platform, these should not be considered difficult experiences but seen as growth opportunities both if you reach your goal and if you cannot.
One of my favorite competitions was certainly the Youth World Championship in March 2019 in Las Vegas. At this event I took home my first world title after so much effort and sweat spent in the gym.
The other competition I enjoyed most was the Senior World Championship in Pataya in 2019, where I scored my best result as a 55kg lifter in competition and a youth world record in the snatch. It was a competition where I had to fight with myself to demonstrate the work I do in the gym.
The below videos show Sergio's U15s National records from 2017
CS: What is your training routine? How many times a week do you train?
Sergio: The training routine is variable depending on the period, if it is more or less close to a competition, and also depending on the physical conditions.
I train about twice a day for 6 days a week with one day off.
These are fairly hard workouts but which lead to great results in competitions.
CS: Which weightlifters do you look up to and enjoy watching compete?
Sergio: I am not a person who has idols in life, but in weightlifting an athlete who makes me excited with his competitions is the Chinese, Shi Zhi Yong. He has a way of getting on the platform and tackling the barbell that is not for everyone.
CS: Do you focus much on nutrition for your sport?
Sergio: I follow a strict enough diet that allows me not to increase my body weight but to always stay at the maximum for my training and in competition.
CS: If you were not a weightlifter what sport or work would you choose? Do you have any surprising interests outside of weightlifting?
Sergio: If I hadn't done weight lifting I would have liked to do artistic gymnastics, it has always been a dream of mine that maybe one day I will realize.
Outside of the weights I like to play the guitar and the piano. Although, since I started training I have left these instruments a bit because I have been more short of time.
CS: What are your favourite and least favourite exercises?
Sergio: Without a doubt my favorite exercise is snatching, also because it is what I do best. I don't have an exercise I don't like, but I can't deny that when I started I hated the squat, I would have preferred to do another 10 sets of snatches but I didn't want to do the squat; but this sport is everything: snatch, clean & jerk, deadlift, squats and everything else. We can't skip an exercise just because we don't like it otherwise we'll never be 100% weight lifters.
CS: What are your top tips for young people wanting to make a start in weightlifting?
Sergio: A little advice I can give to young people who want to start practicing this sport is not to give up when the first pains arise. Because ours is a tiring sport, sometimes you feel useless, but in the future it brings a lot of satisfaction; and the most important thing is to always listen carefully to your trainer because without them and their advice we wouldn't go anywhere.
We would like to give a huge thank you to Sergio for answering our questions. He has given us a lot of insight in to the mind of a champion weightlifter and we can't wait to see him lift at his next competition. We wish him all the success in his future!
- Team Canterbury Strength
You can also see some more recent competition videos of Sergio from IWF here!