The final session of the World Bench Press Championships in Lithuania was the men’s 120kg and 120+kg classes – it was finally time for the big guys to come out to play and we saw some huge weights moved.
Less than 10kg covered more than half of the openers in the 120kg class, promising some close battles. In a massive upset, two of the favourites, Saydulaev and Dziamyanau, did not manage to get on the board, leaving the field wide open. Ukraine’s Kostiantyn Yezyk led the way in the first and second round with Sweden’s Andreas Henning close behind. Henning went out first in the final round and moved into the lead with 242.5kg. Yezyk was superb however and took the gold with a strong 245kg. Meanwhile Dimitriy Li (KAZ) held off the opposition to take the bronze.
In the superheavyweights, favourite Gregory Young of Canada missed his 250kg opener, and Poland’s Adam Laskawski moved into the lead with 247.5kg, just ahead of Romauld Massé’s 245kg. Gregory, who was being coached by his father, M3 world champion, Terry Young, missed 250kg again on his second attempt and Massé moved ahead of Laskawski with 255kg. Under pressure, Young came out for 250kg for the third time and managed to muscle it up, much to everyone’s relief, giving him the bronze medal. Laskawski missed his third, meaning he could not challenge for the gold which left Romauld free to try for a personal best of 265kg. Not there today but the world title is a good consolation, I’m sure.
Ivan Chuprynko took the overall open men's best lifter award and this helped Ukraine to win the team contest with three world champions.
31st October 2021
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