Caracas, Day 2: Canada’s Gallant strikes gold, with a push from one of Bulgaria’s biggest names

Search results for:

Caracas, Day 2: Canada’s Gallant strikes gold, with a push from one of Bulgaria’s biggest names

Josee Gallant made career-best numbers in claiming her first international victory at the Pan American Championships in Venezuela. The Canadian did it with the help of one of the biggest names in Bulgarian weightlifting. Gallant felt she needed to push harder in training. There is no tougher system than the Bulgarian Method, so Gallant decided last October to talk to one of the biggest names in weightlifting history, Alex Varbanov, and his son Nick. Alex was one of the lifters who helped Bulgaria to overtake the Soviet Union as the number one team in weightlifting in the 1980s. The triple world champion and multiple world record holder, who emigrated to Canada in 2008, is one of the all-time top 10 weightlifters based on the Sinclair points system. Josee Gallant (CAN) He and Nick, a Canadian champion nine times, run a gym in Toronto. That is more than 1,700 kilometres from Gallant’s home in Truro, Nova Scotia where she works full-time for her local municipality in communications. “I trained at their gym for a week or so, and now I work mostly with Nick, through his dad, remotely,” said Gallant after she made 89-109-198 for a sweep of golds at 55kg. “I’ll go there for a week before I fly to Thailand (for the IWF World Cup from March 31-April 11). “What I’m doing is the Bulgarian Method adapted for a 31-year-old woman. I do extra stability stuff like snatch balance that’s not typical Bulgarian. But I do max out regularly, maybe three times a week, and I respond well to that. I always lifted heavy but this is less volume, higher percentages. “It was far from a typical session today but it was very exciting.” Gallant was certain of a medal before she started, when half the field of six withdrew - two from Paraguay and the Mexican Yesica Hernandez. Gallant improved her best snatch by 3kg, her clean and jerk by 4kg and her total by 8kg. The late starter, who moved into weightlifting from CrossFit, loves every minute of training and competing, and aims to stay around for a while yet. Rosselyn Uzcategui from Venezuela had to fight hard to make her third snatch after two failures, and took silver from only two good lifts on 83-103-186. Victoria Grenni from El Salvador was third on 75-96-171. The absentees from the men’s 61kg included the continent’s top two lifters at this weight. Hampton Morris lifted in Bulgaria 12 days ago because the United States decided against travelling to Venezuela and got permission to compete as guests at the European Championships. Arley Calderon (CUB) Morris is seventh in the Olympic rankings, four places ahead of Arley Calderon from Cuba. Calderon opted to lift at 67kg here, weighing in at 63.05kg and making a straightforward six-from-six for his lowest total in three years on 118-148-266. He will try for the top 10 at the World Cup, the final Olympic qualifier, where his entry total is 295kg. Three of the six 61kg lifters at the José ‘Papa’ Carrillo Gymnasium have entries for the World Cup but the title went to one who does not. Hector Viveros from Colombia made up an 8kg deficit in snatch to win on 115-149-264. The Peruvian Luis Bardalez failed with a final attempt for victory on 152kg, finishing second on 114-150-264. Victor Garrido from Ecuador missed his last two attempts at 144kg and finished third on 123-140-263. Men's 61kg podium The home nation’s gold medal favourite Wilkeinner Lugo, whose best total is 281kg, bombed out when he missed three snatch attempts at 118kg. Colombia struck again with a 1-2 finish at 67kg. Luis Cano made four good lifts after failing with his opener, and declined his final attempt after making 129-164-293. His team-mate Hector Garcia made 135-157-292. The Venezuelan Endy Rivas earned big cheers from a noisy crowd when he made his final attempt at 160kg to take third place on 127-160-287. By Brian Oliver You can follow the exciting Pan-American Championships in Caracas, on @panampesas official Youtube channel at:

Caracas, Day 1: Mexican winner Lopez has Paris in her sights after moving up 33 places in rankings

Ana Lopez overtook three Mexican team-mates and moved from nowhere to a strong position in the Olympic rankings when she won the women’s 49kg on the opening day of the Pan American Championships in Venezuela. In the extended list, which features four Mexicans, Lopez was 48th and last at this weight. Now she is ahead of her three team-mates in 15th place on that list, and 11th in the simplified rankings. Nations cannot qualify more than one athlete in any weight category. “I’m confident about making it to Paris, I’m feeling good,” said Lopez, who lifted at 55kg in the Tokyo Games, at which weight she regularly hit the 200kg mark. In her first attempt at 49kg, after losing more than 10 per cent of her body weight, Lopez bombed out in snatch. That was at the IWF Grand Prix in Qatar in December. This time she made all three snatches. Why the big turnaround in form? Ana Lopez (MEX) “For months I found it difficult to adapt to being 49,” she said. “It was really, really tough to begin with. I felt so tired. Now I have adapted better to this weight, I had more courage today and I’m so much happier.” Lopez, 29, finished ahead of the woman who is 10th in the rankings, Katherin Echandia from Venezuela, who was a Youth Olympics champion in 2018. Echandia had the backing of a good-sized crowd at the José ‘Papa’ Carrillo Gymnasium in the Parque Miranda Sports Complex, a venue for the 1983 Pan American Games. She had two attempts on 106kg to go ahead of Lopez but failed with both to finish 83-102-185. That was 5kg down on her best qualifying total. Lopez’ team-mate Andrea De La Herran made only good lifts in her 80-95-175 in third place. Dominican Republic also has more than one contender. Beatriz Piron, a triple Olympian and mother of three, withdrew after weighing in. Dahiana Ortiz had a chance to go ahead of eight-placed Piron. But after making her opening snatch at 80kg she failed twice, then withdrew from clean and jerk. Doris Marrero, IWF Vice-President; Mohammed Jalood, IWF President; Mervin Maldonado, Venezuela's Sports Minister; José Quiñones, Pan-American Weightlifting Federation President Shoely Mego from Peru, another who had never made a total at 49kg after dropping down from 55kg, was fourth on 73-94-167. Mego regularly hit the 190s as a 55. Mexico and Venezuela cleaned up in the non-Olympic categories. The only two women’s 45kg entries were from the host nation. Victoria Tovar made 68-87-155 to finish well clear of Mariangeli Martinez, sixth at the World Junior Championships four months ago, who made only two good lifts for 62-82-144. Two Mexicans among four entries in the men’s 55kg finished first and second. Juan Barco made 101-127-228 ahead of junior world champion José Poox on 99-127-226. Howard Roche from Puerto Rico was third. By Brian Oliver You can follow the exciting Pan-American Championships in Caracas, on @panampesas official Youtube channel at:

Oceania Championships: Record-breaking Samoan Opeloge and Australia’s Elliott make moves in Olympic rankings

Don Opeloge broke records and made a significant move in the Paris 2024 rankings when he won the 102kg title for Samoa at the Oceania Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. Opeloge’s 175-215-390 was the best ever effort by any Samoan weightlifter on Sinclair points. Another upward move came from Kiana Elliott from Australia, who finished ahead of her rankings rival Mattie Sasser at 59kg. The news was not so good for Elliott’s team-mate Eileen Cikamatana, who bombed out at 81kg. Opeloge would have gone into eighth place in the rankings if he had not dropped the bar before the down signal on his final attempt at 220kg. He also missed his final snatch attempt on 180kg. Opeloge, 24, broke Commonwealth and Oceania records in snatch and total as he moved level with the athletes ranked ninth and tenth on 390kg. “I’m very proud of Don, a humble young man who has worked very hard,” said Samoa’s head coach and federation president Jerry Wallwork. “He was very unlucky with that 220. Now the target is 400 in Thailand. Let’s hope all goes well with the preparations.” Dan Opeloge (SAM) Wallwork was referring to the final Olympic qualifier, the IWF World Cup in Phuket which runs from March 31 to April 11. Elliott and Sasser are both ranked in the top 20 and will go head to head in Phuket for a continental qualifying slot. Sasser, who lifted for Marshall Islands at Rio 2016 and is back with her homeland after a spell competing for the United States, holds the advantage with a best total of 214kg. Sasser snatched an Oceania record 98kg to lead by 1kg. Elliott turned the tables to win on 97-114-211, an improvement of 3kg in the rankings. She would have gone above Sasser if she had made her final attempt at 118kg. “I’ve been told my performance is the second highest Sinclair ever for an Australian female weightlifter,” said Elliott, who lifted at the Tokyo Olympics. “That’s a huge achievement for me and my coach Martin Harlowe after almost 11 years of investment in my weightlifting career.” Elliott had a good word for the Australian Weightlifting Federation, which recently changed its policy and now allows personal coaches to work with their athletes at international events. “It has had a huge impact on my performance in Qatar (96-112-208) and here in Auckland,” said Elliott. “I hope to see this ethos continue to drive the sport in Australia. I am absolutely aiming for Paris qualification in Thailand.” Cikamatana remains fifth in the 81kg list on 261kg after failing three times to snatch 113kg. “Obviously Eileen was devastated,” said her coach Paul Coffa. “She will be looking to redeem herself in Phuket.” Hayley Whiting from New Zealand won on 92-105-197. Australia also has a chance of a continental place at 89kg, where Kyle Bruce and Oliver Saxton will also go against each other in Thailand. There was only 1kg between them in snatch, but Saxton bombed out in clean and jerk. Bruce, who won on 147-181-328, holds a 7kg advantage in the rankings. There will be another Australian head-to-head in the women’s 71kg.  Jacqueline Nichele, who bombed out on 94kg in the snatch in Auckland, has a 2kg rankings  advantage over Sarah Cochrane, who won on 97-112-209. David Liti from New Zealand made his best total since the Tokyo Olympics when he won the men’s super-heavyweights on 177-236-413. Sanele Mao from Samoa bettered 400kg for the first time in second place on 178-230-408, and will try to close the 5kg gap in Phuket. Iuniarra Sipaia had another good result for Samoa in winning the women’s super-heavyweights. Sipaia looks bound for Paris after improving her best qualifying total by 1kg on 110-155-265. She is ninth in the rankings. Dika Toua (PNG) Dika Toua’s attempt to break the all-time record for appearances at the Olympic Games will go down to the wire, too. Toua, from Papua New Guinea, narrowly failed with her final attempts as she won at 49kg to claim her 15th continental title. She made the first lift by a woman at Sydney 2000 aged 16 and is trying to make it to a sixth Games in Paris in August, by which time she will be 40. On a day when her 13-year-old daughter Ani Guavera won at 40kg and her sister Thelma took the 45kg title, Toua made 70-92-162. She missed her final snatch on 74kg, then easily cleaned 100kg but failed to complete the jerk. Her total was lower than her best in qualifying and she remains 4kg behind her rival for the continental place at this weight, Rosina Randafiarison from Madagascar. If she fails to make up the difference in Phuket, Toua’s hopes will not be dead. She has also applied for a universality slot. Six universality places, chosen by a Tripartite Commission, are available to nations that do not regularly qualify large teams for the Olympic Games. To complete a memorable day for the most famous weightlifting family in Papua New Guinea, Dika’s cousin Morea Baru won the men’s 61kg on 112-150-262. He is all but sure of claiming a continental qualifying place for Paris. There was ninth straight Oceania title for 40-year-old Jenly Wini from Solomon Islands at 55kg and a first for 14-year-old Femily Notte (from Nauru) at 64kg. Notte, who started weightlifting aged eight, made six good lifts in her 90-115-205 to take a sweep of youth, junior and senior titles. That was a 22kg improvement on her total at the World Youth Championships in Albania last year, where she finished sixth. Another teenage winner was Avatu Opeloge for Samoa, daughter of the Beijing 2008 silver medallist Ele Opeloge. The 18-year-old made 91-120-211 at 76kg. Fiji’s Taniela Rainibogi improved his best qualifying total by 8kg in making 160-205-365 to finish second to Don Opeloge, his friend and often his training partner. Fiji’s ‘s younger lifters had a successful time in Auckland, giving evidence that the nation’s development plans for weightlifting are working well. Zion Tokona, 16, broke Oceania records in his age group in winning the youth 96kg on 130-148-278. He has been a weightlifter for less than two years. Double gold medallist Miah Elder made 125-137-262, good enough for fourth in the 73kg seniors at the age of 14. By Brian

Sofia, Day 9: Lalayan takes gold after Lasha withdraws, and Britain’s Campbell wins fourth title

Lasha Talakhadze’s long run of European titles came to an end in Sofia when he withdrew from the men’s super-heavyweights. Varazdat Lalayan from Armenia is the new champion after winning the final session of the 2024 European Championships on 205-250-455. In the women’s super-heavyweights Emily Campbell overcame another injury scare to win her fourth title for Britain. It was her first competition in 10 months. Giorgi Asanidze, Georgia’s head coach, said, “Lasha has a minor trauma in one of his knees and we made this decision to mitigate the risk as much as possible. “Our objective in Paris qualification. An athlete at any stage should retain ‘the feeling of the podium’. We are definitely looking to compete in Thailand (at the final IWF World Cup) for Lasha to retain that feeling of the podium.” Emily Campbell (GBR) The World Cup in Phuket brings to a close the qualifying programme for Paris 2024 when it ends on April 11. Lalayan is third in the Paris 2024 rankings behind Talakhadze and Gor Minasyan from Bahrain, who suffered a surprise defeat in the Asian Championships two weeks ago. Lalayan was the only one of 10 lifters to snatch more than 200kg. He finished 18kg clear of team-mate Simon Martirosyan on 190-247-437. Eduard Ziaziulin, the individual neutral athlete from Belarus, was third on 195-241-436, a 5kg ranking improvement that takes him up one place to seventh. Caine Wilkes fared best of the two Americans competing as guests. Wilkes made 176-214-390 while Alejandro Medina bombed out in clean and jerk after snatching 167kg. The only man on a zero total in the entire Olympic rankings finally got off the mark in the B Group. Enzo Kuworge from the Netherlands, who lifted in Tokyo, competed for the first time since May 2022. He has had a serious knee injury and withdrew after weigh-in at previous qualifiers. This time bad luck struck again before he went out to make 168-202-370, retiring after four attempts to protect his knee. “I could only train for one week for this,” Kuworge said. “I’ve had asthma attacks, a bad leg infection, and I was in hospital three times when I should have been training. Making 168-202 after only four sessions is pretty good. There’s clearly plenty of improvement to come.” He will go to the World Cup in Thailand needing another 50kg to have a shot at the top 10. After 633 days away from the platform, Kuworge now has 51 days in which to work a miracle. Campbell has had a run of injuries and thought she was over the worst in preparing for this competition, her first since last April. “And then on Friday in the training hall my adductor went, ‘No you’re not.’ It could have kept me out of the competition but Stu (head coach Stu Martin) has worked really hard to get me here over the past three days. “Obviously I’m more than happy with today, after that scare. Now I can go home for rehab and to prepare for Paris. There’s no need to lift in Thailand because I’m well set in the rankings.” Anastasiia Hotfrid (GEO) Campbell declined her final attempt in making 112-151-263, finishing 6kg clear of Anastasiia Hotfrid from Georgia. Hotfrid made six good lifts in her 117-40-257, up 5kg on her best ranking total. She needs at least 6kg more in Thailand. “I think I can do it,” she said. “I had a virus in January and didn’t expect this because I haven’t done as well as this in training.” The double European youth champion Fatmagul Cevik from Turkey was third. Cevik, 18, made five good lifts after missing her opener for 107-131-238. Two snatch failures meant Mary Theisen Lappen was unable to make ground in the Paris rankings. The American made 116-155-271 and remains fifth. By Brian

IWF World Youth Champs in Lima (PER): don’t forget to register your athletes until February 22, 2024!

National Federations wishing to register their best athletes for the 2024 IWF World Youth Championships, to be held in Lima (PER) from May 22-26, have until this Thursday (February 22) to proceed to their preliminary entries. At this stage, Member Federations can now register up to 20 athletes / gender even though the final number of competitors can only be a maximum of 10 athletes (+2 Reserves) per gender, which shall be selected by the Final Entry deadline. Entries are registered through the IWF Online Entry System, at: https://mf.iwf.sport National Federations must also be aware that after February 22, 2024 no more athletes can be registered for these Championships. Moreover, in accordance with Article 5.5.16 of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules, the whereabouts information of the athletes shall be submitted at a minimum of three (3) months prior to the event, therefore at the latest also on February 22, 2024. In case of failure to provide the whereabouts information by the Member Federations, the respective Athlete(s) for which the whereabouts have not been submitted shall be automatically ineligible from competing at the IWF World Youth Championships. After this important deadline, the Final Entry deadline is scheduled for April 22, 2024 while the verification of those final entries will take place on May 8,

Sofia, Day 8: Champion Tsikhantsou boosts Paris hopes – and Norway’s Koanda wins by 50kg

The 102kg Olympic rankings tightened up after four men from Armenia and Belarus put on a show at the European Championships in Sofia. Six lifters ranked behind the Chinese leader Liu Huanhua are now separated by only 4kg. Solfrid Koanda from Norway also showed her class in the evening session, the women’s 87kg. She won by 50kg in making career-high numbers to take her third straight European title. In the 102kg, champion Yauheni Tsikhantsou went for the biggest lift in qualifying at this weight, a 225kg clean and jerk. He failed but is confident of success next time. Yauheni Tsikhantsou (AIN) “I have made 225 many times in training, and I’ve also made 230,” he said. “With good preparation, it will come.” There was also an attempt at the biggest snatch to date in qualifying when Garik Karapetyan went for 187kg. He missed that one and two clean and jerks, losing ground to his Armenian team-mate Samvel Gasparyan in the process. Karapetyan is a triple junior world champion and, at 20, is one of one of the best young weightlifters in the world. He will not be in Paris unless he outperforms Gasparyan in the final qualifier, the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand which ends on April 11. Tsikhantsou, an individual neutral athlete from Belarus, made 181-217-398 to move above Lesman Paredes from Bahrain into fifth place. Gasparyan is seventh after his 180-216-396. Siarhei Sharankou made a 12kg improvement on his best qualifying total with 178-212-390 in fourth place, missing only his final attempt. Sharankou, 21, is also an individual neutral from Belarus and, like Karapetyan, he does not feature in the simplified rankings because he has a team-mate ahead of him. Nations cannot qualify more than one athlete in any weight category. Vasil Marinov from Bulgaria wasted a chance to move up when, after making his openers, he missed all his other attempts. Irakli Chkeidze from Georgia was below his best in fifth place on 174-212-386, just ahead of the B group winner Tudor Bratu from Moldova. Those two are ninth and 10th in the rankings respectively. After 11 attempts had been made in the first 25 minutes, two Polish lifters were already out of the competition. Daniel Goljasz and his 36-year-old team-mate Arsen Kasabijew both bombed out. The 32-year-old triple Olympian Arturs Plesnieks from Latvia bombed out in clean and jerk. Wes Kitts from the United States withdrew. He has had knee and hip injuries and was not at his best in the warm-up. Solfrid Koanda (NOR) Koanda, a medal contender at 81kg for Paris 2024, recovered from a snatch bombout at the World Championships last September with a sweep of personal bests on 120-160-280 here. She was up 3kg in snatch, 4kg in clean and jerk and 8kg on total. “I learned from what happened in Riyadh,” Koanda said afterwards. What did she learn, exactly? “Never to make the same mistakes again!” Her target in Thailand will be “just to push through and continue this good work”. Koanda weighed in light at 85.62kg. It is not often Denmark gets the better of Armenia in weightlifting. It did when Anne Sofie Jensen made all three snatches to take silver in that discipline ahead of Hripsime Khurshudyan. Jensen was sixth on total, 1kg behind three women who made 227kg – Khurshudyan, her team-mate Tatev Hakobyan and Busra Can from Turkey. Khurshudyan got there first for bronze behind Anastasiia Manievska from Ukraine on 102-128-230, who won silver despite finishing 50kg behind Koanda. Khurshudyan, 36, and the German Nina Schroth, 32, both retired from international competition after they left the platform.  Khurshudyan left with a medal, while Schroth ended her career with a jury review on her final attempt. No lift. Hristo Hristov (BUL) Hristo Hristov was a very happy silver medallist in the men’s 109kg, having become a father for the first time less than 24 hours earlier. His son was born at 19.49 on Sunday night in Varna, 500 kilometres away from Sofia. “I had to be here preparing for competition when he was born,” said happy Hristov. “I still managed to sleep OK. We have named him Maxim. Tomorrow morning I will drive to pick up mother and son from hospital in Varna.” Hristov, 23, made five good lifts for 175-205-380, finishing 8kg behind winner Dadash Dadashbayli from Azerbaijan. Dadashbayli tried to break the 400kg barrier with a final attempt at 225kg but failed and finished 176-212-388. Matthaeus Hofmann from Germany was third on 172-206-378. Fourth-placed Onur Demirci from Turkey took clean and jerk silver on 168-207-375. By Brian Oliver