World Championships Powerlifting Juniors 2004
For the first year that sub-jrs and juniors competed together on a world platform. The junior team arrived before the sub-junior team, flying direct from Atlanta to Johannesburg. Spending 18 hours on an airplane is a bit long, but it was nice to fly direct. Arriving early allowed us to adjust to the time change and gave us time to spend a day shopping for souvenirs and another day on an open-air bus on a cultural tour on seeing local villages, a stop at a local healing woman and an animal farm.
The meet venue was one of the best the junior worlds have seen. The hotel was attached to a casino complex that contained several restaurants and a nightclub. When we arrived each lifter got a gift bag that included: breakfast vouchers, tickets for the Saturday barbeque and Sunday's banquet. It also contained a t-shirt, pen, a meet program, and vouchers for two different tours. The meet itself was at the other end of the complex, with the platform set up in a center rotunda area with seating on two levels and around the perimeter were food vendors as well as tour coordinators and photographer. The photographer offered customized photo CDs, some pics of the the opening ceremony, and room to choose other photos the lifter wanted. Lifting started Wednesday morning with the first three classes of lightweight women. Tina Carder was the first woman on the platform for the US team, competing in the 44kg class as a junior. She set the stage for the week, earning a silver squat medal, a gold bench medal, and gold in the deadlift. She clinched the overall gold on bodyweight edging out Molina Eduviges from Venezuela with a 317.5kg total. Next, Ashley Matherne represented the US in the 48 kg class. Ashley spent time since qualifying to work her way down in bodyweight and it was a great move for her and the US Jr Womens Team. Ashley kept up the pace set by Tina pulling in a bronze squat, a gold bench, and a gold deadlift. She had a strong day despite the drop in weight class and her 370 kg total was 25 kg ahead of Apuli fron Finland. The first Ukraine junior woman was Yevheniya Arkhypenko in the 52kg class. She went an impressive 7-for-9 and easily earned the gold in all categories, squatting 152.5kg, benching 95kg, and pulling 162.5kg. Desirae Arelliano of Hawaii began the day a bit slow, needing three attempts to get a squat. She did not have a good day personally, but it was good enough to earn bronze medals across the board. In the afternoon on Wednesday it was time for the men to show what they could do. Jeremiah Welch weighed in for his first world appearance at 45kg. He was another US lifter that had some difficulty with the squats, but was good enough to stay in the meet and earn a bronze. He made up for it in bench hitting all three lifts for a bronze and pulled 160kg for a silver in the deadlift. Welch finished third overall with 377.5kg. Alexey Romanov of Russia passed on his third squat after hitting 210 kg on his second. He went on to hit all of the remaining six lifts, pulling 190 kg for an impressive 522.5 kg total. Takase Hisayuki took silver with 382.5kg. Mike Hafenbrack had a 3-for-9 day, while Dominik Golak from Poland went 9-for-9 with a 507.5 kg total. Despite the disappointment in personal performance, Mike came home with silver in squat and dead and bronze in bench for a silver overall. Third and fourth place for the class were both men from Japan only 2.5kg behind Mike's total. A great example of sportsmanship was seen the following day in the warm up room as Hafenbrack and Golak were sharing some break dancing moves. There was a slight language barrier, but it was overcome with smiles, respect, and fun. The US did not have any lifters in the final session Wednesday evening - the 60 and 67.5kg men. The 60kg men lifted well even though it was late in the day. Zakiev of Russia got all nine lifts 265kg, setting a new world record in the bench at 205kg , and 200 kg pull for the gold. Erasmo Ron from Venezuela (little brother of Hernan at 82.5kg) had a good world debut only missing his final deadlift and finishing second at 635kg. Remi Bhang from France pulled an impressive 230kg for gold in the deadlift. In the 67.5kg Alexander Gromov had a 300kg squat that was picture perfect on his second attempt. He attempted to break Caleb Williams world record with 307.5 kg on his third, but it was a little too heavy. Gromov only hit one bench and one dead after that but finished with an impressive 720kg total. Kanazawa Takashi of Japan earned bench gold with his opener of 182.5kg and Tomasz Jarosiewicz of Poland pulled 250kg on his third for gold deadlift and silver overall. David Ramokagadi of South Africa joined Gromov and Jarosiewicz on the platform and was the first local guy to earn a medal. Thursday morning began with the 56kg women. Ashley Awalt. She did not squat as usual, only hitting her opener (still good enough for bronze), but she more than made up for it with a new 123kg world record bench on a 4th attempt. Kira Pavlovskaya of Russia had a nearly perfect day starting off breaking her squat world record with 190.5kg. She missed one bench, then pulled 185kg for a 472.5kg total. Ashley added a bronze deadlift medal to her collection before finishing with the silver overall. The 60kg class is a repeat of earlier women's groups, dominated by the Russians, and having our American struggle with squats. Codi Grubbs fought to get her opener in on the third attempt (and a silver squat medal), but then hit four of her next six lifts. Codi finished with silvers across the board. Natalia Igosheva of Russia missed only two lifts and had a 460kg total. Alyssa Hitchcock returned to the world platform this year as a light lifter in a heavier weight class. She started out nailing her first squat with determination and ease. Finally, she broke the bad-squat streak that seemed to plaque the US lifters. Alyssa went an impressive 7-for-9 and collected bronze medals across the board. Alyssa beat out Yulia Goryachun on bodyweight for the overall bronze. Anastasia Yakovlenvaof Russia also had a 7-for-9 day finishing at 485 followed by Gundula van Bachhaus of Germany with 460kg. In the 75kg men's class Dimitry Dvomikov from Russia had an impressive day, squatting 312.5kg, hitting a world record bench of 212.5kg on a 4th attempt and pulling 290kg for a 810 kg total. The US Team had two new lifters on the world scene: David Hammers and Josh Rohr. These men are used to competing against each other at nationals, but showed good team support this meet. David started out with a strong 257.5 kg squat then hit all three benches for a silver medal. He finished with an overall bronze at 695kg. Josh got the meet jitters out of his system and hit opener squat on the second try. Bench went better, but then ran out of energy by deadlifts. His opener of 265kg was enough to secure a bronze for deadlift and 4th place overall finish for him. Kryvoshey of Ukraine finished second with 715kg total, Anthony and Hadebe of South Africa were 5th and 6th followed by Singh of India and Grubauer of Austria. There were some big squats in the 82.5kg class. Hernon Ron of Venezuela was expecting to hit a world record, but had an off day and was credited with only one squat at 325kg. Ernades-Ortega of Russia also only got credit for one squat at 310kg. Marcel Lindholm of Finland was one of the few in this class to hit all three squats and earn the silver with 317.5kg. Veteran Steve McLawchlin showed his experience in the 82.5kg class. After only getting an opener squat of 307.5kg he did not lose his focus even after missing his opening bench. Miwa Keigo of Japan broke the world record bench at 228kg on his third attempt. Ernades-Ortega attempted 228.5kg on a 4th and did not get credit for it. As it turned out, it would not have mattered as Keigo came back for a 230kg on his 4th and it was a good lift. Deadlifts were exciting. Steve pulled all three and earned the gold deadlift medal on bodyweight with a 307.5kg pull. His 825kg total was 15kg ahead of silver medalist Hernan Ron. Friday morning Kimmie Evertett lifted in 75kg class for the US. Irina Dergunova of Russia left no room for Kimmie to catch her, hitting all nine lifts 210kg, 120kg, 200kg. Kimmie showed her experience and stayed focused after a bad squat start, she hit two benches and all three pulls for silver medals in all categories and a 470kg total. Stefan Arnold had a very competitive class for his world debut. Third through sixth places were separated only by 27.5 kg. Stefan finished 6th overall with only hitting three lifts and earning a silver in the deadlift. Zamomikov of Russia clearly dominated the class with a 870kg total followed by Oliynyk of Ukrain at 775kg. Van Niekerk of South Africa, Hentzchel of German and Traeger of Australia were in front of Stefan. Four other lifters finished behind Stefan. Two Russians battled it out for the top slots in the 100kg class. In the end Pozdeev finished with 900kg and Lebedko with 890kg. Lifting for the US in this class were two guys from Wisconsin, Jessie Betzinger and Derek Brixius, both new to the world platform. After slow starts in squats both guys remained focused and finished strong, finishing only 10kg apart from each other. Andreas Hjelmtveit finished 3rd overall with an impressive gold-medal deadlift of 342.5kg. Saturday morning the women finished their lifting with 90kg and 90+ kg classes. We had three lifters in these classes, two being first time world lifters. Yulia Kurina of Russia bumped up to the 80kg class and finished with a strong 570kg total ahead of Anna Sliwinska of Poland with 552.5kg. Kelly Louque and Danielle Miller both started strong hit their first two squats solidly and Kelly's 170kg earned her the bronze. From there she never looked back, hitting all three benches, getting a PR and bronze medal, and then the 170kg pull on her third attempt was good for a deadlift bronze and an overall bronze. Danielle struggled a little on the bench, but made up for it in the deadlift pulling all three lifts and finishing with 390 kg total, only 2.5 kg behind Yuka Asai of Japan. Closing out the women's categories was Jamie Johnson, another new lifter on the world platform. Jamie squatted like a veteran, hitting all three lifts and earning a bronze. She missed one bench, and then ran out of energy for deads only pulling her opener. It was still an impressive first appearance for Jamie and she went home with four bronze medals. Saturday afternoon there were no US men in the 110kg class. To no surprise, Sergey Sosnovskiy of Russia won the class easily with 905kg total, followed by Brynizarski of Poland at 835kg and Jensen of Denmark at 805kg. Saturday evening there was a great outside barbecue poolside, hosted by the South African Federation and offered at no extra expense for the lifters. A live band played for entertainment, the food was better than at some past banquets, and there were ample sweets for desert. After the meal, many of the people went into the Cheyenne Saloon for the night show of musicians and dancers. It was a great evening, everyone except the lifters for the next day were out on the dance floor by the end of the night. Sunday morning was the final two classes: 125kg and 125+ kg men. The session was broken into two flights by weight class. Judging was strict on depth as is expected at this level. James Townsend in the 125kg class came out for his opening squat of 285kg, got out of the groove coming out of the hole and fell forward on the way up. Initial indications were a torn left quad and James could not complete the meet. Alexey pankov of Russia went 8-for-9 for 957.5 kg and the gold medal in the class. Silver went to Hoffmann from Germany and again a local South African made the medal platform - Jaco Claasen for bronze. Last but not least the super heavyweight men. Josh Chovanec hit all three squats and earned a silver. David "Exxon" Sharon also hit all three of his squats, not showing any indication that this was his first world meet. Exxon continued strong finishing 7-for-9 on the day. Josh took the gold in bench with 262.5kg and bronze in the deadlift at 315kg. Josh had a perfect 9-for-9 day, and Ewgenij Kondraschow of Germany had to jump from 325kg to 342.5kg on his final deadlift to edge out Josh on bodyweight for the overall silver. The banquet announced the team awards. The women's team finished highest ever at 2nd and the mens team tied their highest ever performance also finishing second. First place in both cases was Russia. The write up has gotten long, but there was so much good lifting to talk about. Thanks to staff and helpers: Emilio Saldierna, Jon Magendie, and Heather Wasserkrug for all their hard work during the week. The next issue of Powerlines will contain an account of the sub-junior team and their staff.  |
