We have great memories of Fredrik Myrvang of Norway taking his first world title in Kazakhstan last year. But this year he faces Yo Tamura of Japan, only recently up from the juniors. We haven't seen him in international competition since 2019 and he is nominated with a massive 222.5kg. He still holds the junior and sub-junior bench world records but this is far in excess of anything we have seen from him before and 2.5kg OVER the current open world record.
World record holder Masashi Fukuda of Japan looks well placed for the win in the 66s but he didn't manage a successful lift last year and it's a truism that you never know what's going to happen in equipped bench.
In the 74kg class, we have a mid-field lurker. Ukraine's Ivan Chuprynko is the current world champion and won last year with a 292.5kg press so we think that his 205kg nomination is a little understated. We have enjoyed Chuprynko trading blows with the legendary Daiki Kodama in recent years. However, Kodama has given us a surprise this year by competing in the 83kg class for the first time. He is nominated at 305kg, more than we have seen him do in international competition, so we are excited to see how this goes.
As we move into the heavier weight classes, we come into the domain of Team Mongolia. Gansukh Batsukh took the bronze last year behind Poland's Rafał Zalewski and Japan's Yasuki Yamashita but he is nominated in first place this time around. This will be an interesting rematch in the 93kg class.
In the 105s, Tumenjargal Dashzegve of Mongolia is nominated with 312.5kg, a chunk ahead of nearest rivals but he can be a little inconsistent, bombing out of last 2 years' competitions. Japan's Naoki Hasegawa won comfortably last year but this year he has Sweden's Oliver Dahlkvist to contend with and they look evenly matched. We also have Austin Brown, USA - nominated at 295kg, he benched 310kg at equipped nationals last year so this could be neck and neck.
Current 120kg world champion, Per Marius Hole of Norway will have to defend his title against Mongolia's Chanrav Shuurai who looks to be improving quickly. Similarly Chimedtseren Bataa has a couple of new challengers to fend off. Carlos Campos Murillo of Costa Rica is a familiar face but he hasn't competed in equipped bench only before. And Canada's Garrett Bentley, fresh off the back of winning best equipped bencher at the Commonwealth Championships, is also a first timer at this event. Looking at how training has been going, this looks to be more interesting than the nominated numbers hint at.
Equipped bench is one of the most unpredictable disciplines in powerlifting and the sight of well over 300kg on the bar is always impressive. Don't miss it - streamed live on YouTube and Facebook from 20th May onwards.
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