Madletiks

Coming into Classic Worlds, 2019 world champion, Tony Cliffe, was nominated 40kg ahead of fellow Brit, Inderraj Singh Dhillon and looked to be in for an easy ride. However, things did not pan out that way on the day.

Tony paced well on squat. hitting 345kg for the silver medal behind the incoming world champion, Algeria's Mohamed Sahad. Sahad missing his opener on depth but ultimately smoked 375kg for the squat gold and a chunky lead. Spain's Victor Vazquez had a good day on squats, taking the bronze medal with 340kg.

Cliffe is a big bencher and he took a bite out of the Algerian's lead with 242.5kg for the gold. Special mention to Taras Melnychuk of Ukraine and Bereczki-Kiraly Szilard of Hungary who won the silver and bronze bench medals from the B group.

Into deadlift and Cliffe opened 10kg heavier than Sahad and slid into a small and fragile lead. Sahad missed his second attempt and it started to look like his world title run was at an end. Meanwhile, Dhillon took 375kg for his second deadlift and it moved fast! This pushed him up to 4th and we had no doubt at all that a world record attempt was on its way.

Sahad missed again in the final round and Cliffe was confirmed as world champion with a lifetime best deadlift of 365kg but there was still action to come. Dhillon loaded 386kg to break the deadlift world record set by Bryce Krawczyk in Halmstad in 2021. He looked fierce and determined as he approached the platform. He spread his arms wide and took a deep breath, bent to the bar and started to pull. It slowed and wobbled at the knee and the bar sloped away to the left briefly but, with a Herculean effort, he gsecured the lockout, the world record and, incidentally, overall third. A great result for Team GB.

Tony Cliffe GBR 952.5kg
Mohamed Sahad ALG 925kg
Inderraj Singh Dhillon GBR 906kg

We expected the 93kg class at classic worlds to be a four way fight but things panned out a little differently.

Amar Kanane of Algeria took the squat gold with 325kg but missed a world record attempt at 331.5kg. Sweden's Gustav Hedlund was looking in great shape and he took silver with 320kg. USA's Gavin Adin was in all kinds of trouble though. As strong as he looked on his opener, he lost his balance at the top and stepped forward before the rack command. He hit his second at 310kg but his final squat was rejected by the jury and he finished off the podium on his best event.

2021 world champion, Jonathan Cayco of Team USA, came into his own on bench. He looked unstoppable and extended his own world record with an easy looking 243kg. Bulgaria's Emil Krastev was quietly building his total and a 232.5kg bench gave him overall second place as well as the bench silver, with Adin and Hedlund only 5kg behind.

The leaders were pretty evenly matched on deadlift but Adin opened 10kg lighter than the rest and started to slip back and come under pressure from deadlift specialist, Sascha Stendebach of Germany. Everyone hit their second attempts and the tension mounted as we moved into the final round.

Krastev was the first of the contenders to come out for their final pull. He attempted 342.5kg to defend his silver medal but he couldn't quite bring it back to lockout and it sprang from his grasp. Adin was next out for the same weight to try to move up to silver medal position. He looked fired up as he charged the platform but he couldn't get it moving and he finished off the podium.

Cayco rounded out a perfect day with an easy looking 345kg pull that broke his own total world record and, realistically, gave him his second world title.

Next out was Hedlund for 345kg to try to knock Krastev down to third. It wasn't an easy pull but it was a successful one and Hedlund took the silver medal.

Stendebach had the honour of the final pull of the session and 365kg moved him up to third and gave him the deadlift gold.

Jonathan Cayco USA 888kg
Gustav Hedlund SWE 875kg
Emil Krastev BUL 872.5kg

The 83kg class at Classic Worlds must be one of the most anticipated head to head battles this year. Incoming world champion, USA's Delaney Wallace has been in the ascendant this year and he was facing a lifter that has made great strides lately - GBR's Jurins Kengamu. However, this session played out differently to expectation.

Wallace looked in great form on his opening squat, dancing his way to the bar. His second moved extremely well and he looked confident and in control coming out for this third. He stood it up but the jury overturned it.

However, Kengamu was having problems. His second squat and ground to a halt not far from the bottom and his campaign hit a serious roadblock. He stood it up on his third but it was turned down on depth and the whole competition landscape shifted.
Wallace put in a solid 490kg sub-total, having taken the bronze medal in both squat and bench. This put him 20kg ahead of Italy's Edoardo Mazzucchielli who had taken the squat gold with 297.5kg.

With some big deadlifters in the pack, we knew not to read too much into the sub-totals and, indeed, here comes the 83kg deadlift king, Asein Enahoro for 350kg. It leapt to lockout like a startled bird and suddenly the Hungarian was in second place, only 15kg behind Wallace.

Wallace's second deadlift attempt at 325kg looked close to the limit and Enahoro closed the gap even with a world record attempt of 370.5kg for his second. It was as fast as his first and Wallace looked to be under threat.

Wallace missed his third, leaving the way clear for Enahoro to load up to pull for the win. First though Canada’s Nick Manders took an ambitious 27.5kg jump to compensate for his missed opener, pulling himself all the way from 9th right onto the podium.

One lift remained. 380.5kg, as incredible a number as that is, looked credible and the crowd tore the roof off as Enahoro made his signature relaxed stroll out to the platform. The bar moved but it didn't go far and Wallace took his second world title.

Delaney Wallace USA 815kg
Asein Enahoro HUN 805.5kg
Nick Manders CAN 797.5kg

The 76kg class provided one of the most exciting finishes last year when Canada's Jessica Buettner was forced to pull more than any raw woman in the IPF had ever done before to beat Poland's Agata Sitko on bodyweight. With New Zealand's Karlina Tongotea added into the mix, this was a three way dance that promised to be a battle to remember.

Tongotea looked in great shape and led from the very start, piling kilos into her total with a world record squat of 225.5kg for the squat gold. Buettner was right behind though and matched her best squat with 220kg for the silver.

Sitko leapt into prominence on bench, opening fully 30kg heavier that anyone else. Her opening attempt was only 1kg below her own bench world record and moved like an empty bar. She broke 4 records in one with 153kg - three lift bench AND single lift bench records in the junior AND open categories. Phenomenal lifting.

This gave Sitko a tiny lead going into deadlifts but the other two were bigger deadlifters and Tongotea moved more than 10kg ahead with her 235kg opener. Buettner closed the gap to Sitko with a decent 240kg but missed 252.5kg on her second.

Into the final round and Sitko pulled 240kg to extend her own junior deadlift world record and take the lead by 50g of bodyweight. Tongotea dropped her deadlift to take just what she needed to take it back. 245kg went on the bar and the packed crowd went nuts. It was a tough pull but a successful one and surely we had our new 76kg world champion.

One more deadlift though - Buettner has pulled historic numbers before when she needed to but, with first place out of range, she was loading up 263kg to try to move up to second. She looked focussed and hit it hard but it just wasn't there on the day and she had to settle for the bronze medal.

Special mention to GBR's Sophia Ellis who pulled 245kg for the deadlift gold and moved herself into 4th place in a stacked class of incredible lifters.

Karlina Tongotea NZL 593kg
Agata Sitko POL 590.5kg
Jessica Buettner CAN 567.5kg