First published on IPF social media on 31st May 2023
We are in for a treat in the 105kg class at Classic Worlds in Malta. Two time world champion Anatolii Novopismennyi is back and facing off against current world champion, Emil Norling. Let's take a look at the top 5 nominations.
Emil Norling SWE 928.5kg
Abdulla Mohamed LBY 915kg
Michael Davis USA 912.5kg
Anatolii Novopismennyi UKR 905kg
Abdul Majeed Sulayman GBR 900kg
Norling and Novopismennyi have been going toe to toe for some time now. They first engaged in battle at Classic Worlds in Halmstad in 2021. Novopismennyi absolutely destroyed the squat world record that day, taking it from 343kg to 360kg. This formed the basis of him adding 42 kg to the total world record too. Norling had to settle for silver then but the tables turned at the European Classic in Vasteras a few months later. Norling unleashed a monster 375kg deadlift at that comp to beat the Ukrainian by the smallest margin.
Novopismennyi missed worlds last year and Norling had a close battle with Michael Davis, again pulling out a huge deadlift to take his first open world title. With momentum really mounting, Norling beat Novopismennyi again at the 2022 Euros in Poland.
However, Novopismennyi competed at Ukrainian nationals last month and he is looking in the form of his life, making an unofficial squat world record of 365kg look pretty comfortable. He totalled 940kg at that competition so it looks like we are in for a close race once again.
We should not discount Michael Davis who was only 2.5kg off the winning total in Sun City last year. He looks well placed for a podium finish and could well capitalise if the front runners falter. Abdulla Mohamed is more of an unknown quantity. He placed fourth last year with 885kg so he seems to have made some significant improvements since then.
A little further back we have last year's bronze medallist, Sulayman. His 900kg nomination is from Sheffield and he left a few kilos behind there so he is definitely in the fight for podium places. This one will be close and we have some deadlift specialists in class so we can surely expect an exciting finish for the Saturday night Prime Time session.
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