Jurins took the silver medal behind Delaney at last year's Classic Worlds, on a six for nine kind of day. His training since then has been incandescent. He put in the performance of his life at the British in March, going 9 for 9 and totalling 820.5kg for a new British total record and taking the British squat record with 310.5kg along the way. He looked relaxed throughout but this was enough to move him right to the top of the British Powerlifting raw men's rankings with 113.79 GL points.
In Malta, Jurins took the heaviest opener with 290kg which seemed consistent with his recent performances and it moved well. 305kg next but an audible shock ran around the crowd when he did not manage to return it to the top. He looked a little shocked himself as he left the platform - this should have been a safe second attempt. Delaney missed his third on depth which gave Jurins an opportunity to recover. He took 305kg again and was careful and controlled into the hole and this time it came up. Unfortunately though it was turned down for lack of depth and Jurins' title charge stumbled.
Bench rolled around as bench does. Not Jurins' best lift but one that has been improving. He has hit 177.5kg at his last three competitions and had a crack at 180kg here for the first time. It came off the chest nicely but he couldn't quite finish it off and he clutched at his arm as the spotters took the bar.
The field was so tightly packed at this point that Jurins was in 6th place at sub-total and 25kg off the pace for gold medal - a tough place to be. His opening pull was 310 and it gave no clues about how he was feeling - not super fast, not overly laboured. This closed the gap a little with only 10kg covering 2nd - 6th place.
325kg for his second moved him up to fourth but he was clearly tiring and approaching his limit. 330kg went on the bar for his third and this seemed like the right call - not too much more but enough to get him on the podium. He dropped into his usual crouch at the back of the podium and then stalked the bar. He gripped and pulled but the bar hardly moved and Jurins dropped to his knees with head bowed, pain and anguish on his face.
790kg total and sixth place was not what we expected but you don't always get the day you want. 790kg is more than he won the silver medal with last year but the standard continues to rise, just as Jurins will rise again and I can't wait to see him get the competition he deserves.
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