In Malta this year we will witness the biggest class of 59kg lifters that we have ever seen. The current world champion is going to have to fight to even make the podium with new challengers and equipped lifters moving in on his territory. Let's take a look at the nominations.
Wascar Carpio USA 613.5kg
Franklin Leon ECU 602.5kg
Wei-Xiang Zeng TPE 585kg
Antoine Garcia FRA 585kg
Yuji Murata JPN 572.5kg
Garcia is the incoming world champion, having taken the title on his first attempt. It's a much deeper field this year though and Garcia finds himself nominated in 4th place, nearly 30kg behind the leader! He left a few kilos on the table at the Euros where he set this 585kg and he's going to need every one of them to defend his title.
Zeng is nominated on exactly the same total. We haven't seen him lift at international level before so he's a bit of a dark horse. His numbers were slightly down at a recent meet following a minor hip injury so we hope he's managed to rehab that in time.
Franklin Leon is the current equipped world champion, having FINALLY won his first world title in Denmark late last year. Having secured that prize, he has turned his attention to raw and he is nominated here in second place. However, we haven't seen him lift raw internationally since 2019 so he is also something of an unknown quantity.
Right at the top though we have the young man who is making waves in the lightweight class. Carpio hasn't been competing for long but his progress has been phenomenal and he is more than 10kg clear of his nearest rival. Can he hold his nerve at his first international? Only time will tell.
Murata is a little way behind the front runners but he has half a dozen lifters snapping at his heels in a tightly packed field and we are going to see the most hotly contested 59kg class in history.
Streamed live on the Olympic Channel and our Facebook page at 1pm CET on Sunday 11th June.
Whose team are you on? Let us know in the comments.
Graphic by @strength.journal
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