IPF World Powerlifting Championships 2021

The highlights show from the IPF Open Equipped Powerlifting World Championships in Stavanger, Norway will be shown TODAY, 22nd November at 6pm CET on Eurosport 1 and tomorrow, 23rd November at 8.30am CET on Eurosport 2. It will feature some of the biggest and best lifts from ALL weight classes - don't miss it!

After many years away, and a year after it was originally planned, we were back in Stavanger, Norway for the 2021 World Open Equipped Powerlifting Championships and the athletes hit the platform with passion.

205 athletes from 32 countries battled it out, breaking 14 open world records and 36 age class world records. In the men’s competition, ROC took the team award with 4 world champions and Oleksiy Bychkov of Ukraine was best lifter with 109.3021 GL points. In the women’s, ROC won the team contest with 2 world champions, just ahead of the home nation and Italy’s Carola Garra won the best lifter award with 111.2799 GL points.

There were a lot of familiar faces on the top step of the podium, but we also saw some new names rising to the top –Poland’s powerhouse, Agata Sitko, only just out of the sub-juniors and Érica Bueno, ten years after her first appearance on the world’s stage, finally winning her first Open Worlds.

There were a lot of moments that will stay with us: redemption for Tony Cliffe, going 8/9 for the silver medal after disappointment in Dubai. Ana Castellain’s first equipped world title in five years. Bychkov with the biggest pull in the competition at 390kg, even though he had already won. Kimberly Johnson, whose smile never left her face, even when she pulled unsuccessfully for the win. Hassanin’s 505.5kg squat just missing on a small amount of depth. Efimtseva’s 290kg squat as a junior lifter. Rhaea Stinn’s incredible 223kg bench. So many outstanding performances but heartache for a few – equipped lifting is a harsh and unforgiving sport at times.

At the end of the competition, Stavanger’s mayor hosted a huge banquet for all the lifters and officials which was a fitting end to a star-studded competition.

Gaston Parage, IPF President: “Thank you to the hosts for putting on this event, one of the jewels in the crown of the IPF and thank you to the lifters for giving us such an exciting competition. The Eurosport live coverage was very well received and is a sign of things to come for our sport. See you next time in Viborg!”.

And it's a wrap! We totally emptied our little powerlifting club of all our racks and most of our weights for the warmup area, but at least it gave us a good opportunity to really give it a good cleanup. Now the venue, Stavanger Idrettshall, is also cleaned out and ready for the next competition. We hope you all enjoyed this last week as much as we did, even though it's a lot of work.

Da er hallen ryddet👍👍

Today's hard working platform crew representing 💪👍❤️❤️❤️

Bra m folk i hallen idag 😂😂😂

Please remember that the doors for the banquet opens at 18:30 and dinner will start at 19:00. Please be on time as we have a tight schedule 🙏👍The banquet is held in the main hall at Hotel Clarion Energy

Smiling behind their masks, the platform crew for the men 120kgs represents and ❤️

Today's happy platform team for the 105kgs. Representing and ❤️

Working hard on the platform today, representing no less than four different clubs in Norway. .sk .ak and ❤️❤️💪👍

Men 120+kg groups for Saturday's sessions