First published on IPF social media on 02/09/2023
A mammoth session started us off in Day 9 of Junior Worlds - the junior 83kg class was 28 lifters strong and they put on quite a show. Turki Souleiman FRA took an early lead, squatting 282.5kg for the squat gold. Andrea Orlandi ITA struggled on squat, only getting one in but that one was 277.5kg and good enough for the squat bronze. Orlandi shot into the lead with a massive 200kg which netted him the bench gold. Turki missed his opening deadlift but came back well with a 310kg second attempt which put him back in the lead by only 2.5kg. Orlandi added 5kg for his final deadlift but Turki matched him and won the title.
In the sub-junior 93s, Jordi van Heijningen NED and Martin Brester GER batted the sub-junior squat world record back and forth for a while but it ultimately stuck with the Dutch lifter at 288kg. Van Heijningen also took the bench gold, putting himself in a strong position come deadlifts. Brester took the deadlift gold but van Heijningen had a perfect 9 for 9 day and just could not be beat.
We finished another great day of lifting with the junior 93kg class. This was the closest battle yet. Last year's champion, Yulong Li SWE took the squat gold with a well judged 297.5kg but only 10kg covered the top eight and Nathan Gevao GBR was only 2.5kg behind Li. Game on.
Malik Bernoussi Triolet FRA slid into the lead with a monster 205kg bench opener. He followed this up with a world record of 215.5kg on his second and then 220.5kg for his third. Impressive stuff for a lifter only just out of the sub-juniors. This put Triolet over 25kg ahead of Li, with Gevao another 10kg behind.
Gevao got off to a shaky start when his opening deadlift was turned down by the referees. He went up anyway, adding 20kg for his next attempt. A risky move but sometimes it's the only way to stay in the fight. The tension built when first Triolet, and then Li, failed their second attempts. Gevao hit his though and shot into second place with 325kg. Peyton Johnson USA then pulled himself up to third with 340kg.
Triolet missed his final lift as well, losing his grip at the top and handing an opportunity to his challengers. Li was the next of the contenders to pull - it was close but couldn't quite lock it out. Shockingly, this left Li off the podium entirely.
In the final round, Semih Ayguen GER jumped up to second with 327.5kg. Gevao was next and took 332.5kg - it was a tough lift but he got it to the top, and three white lights shone out - Gevao took the lead. Incredibly, there were still lifts and challenges remaining. Nathaniel Massiah GBR pulled a gutsy 340kg next and knocked the German off the podium. Johnson was the last lifter out and attempted 352.5kg for the win but he couldn't lock it out and Nathan Gevao took the crown.
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