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Short Report Copyright L.J. Maile, Ph.D. 2005 The 16th IPF World Bench Press Championships were held in Stockholm, Sweden December 1st through 5th. Sixty nine women and one hundred eleven men participated. There were a total of 5 world records set. This meet was live video streamed, and could be watched via the internet at other times as well. It was professionally announced by officials from the Swedish Powerlifting Federation and the video quality was very good as well. The Team competition in the both the women's and men's divisions was won by Russia. However, the teams following on the medals platform differed significantly. In the Women's competition, home team, Sweden took the silver team medal. They were anchored by 52 kg. Swedish phenom, Anna Olsson, who set the only world record for women (132.5 kg. on her third and 137.5 kg. on a fourth attempt). However, they also had a gold medal in the unlimited division by Sandra Lonn, who finished with 177.5 kg. Anna-Maria Nogglegaard won a silver medal. Ms. Olsson won the Champion of Champions by a wide margin of 7 Wilks points over world record holder Tatiana Kudryavtseva, of Kazakhstan and Elena Fomina of Russia. The U.S. women finished in bronze medal position behind the gold medal performance of Jill Darling in the 56 kg. class. Jill won on the final press over Sweden's Noglegaard and Finland's Rantala. Jill has been a member of this team since 1998, and persisted year after year to finally top the medals' podium. Christy Newman placed second in the 75 kg. division. She tried to eclipse her own world record on a fourth attempt, but was unable to get the judges to agree. All American girl, Devan Doan took the bronze in the 82.5 kg. class in her first open worlds. Look for only bigger numbers for her in the future. The Men's competition, unfortunately, did not include the U.S.A. in the top three. Our guys placed 6th behind five very tough teams: Russia, Japan, Poland, Finland, and Sweden. Ayrat Zakiev, of Russia won the Champion of Champion of Champions award over Kenneth Sandvik, of Finland and Daiki Kodama of Japan in a battle that came down to hundredths of Wilks points. Many time world team member, Steve Petrencak. Several of our prior champions and world record holders had difficulty negotiating difficult judging. Some of it may be attributed to the letdown from last year, and the adjustment to having to travel internationally. But, our athletes put forth the supreme effort, and will be back next spring in Budapest, Hungary as the IPF adjusts the calendar to place the Bench Championships in the early part of the year. |
Contest Photos
 Devan Doan (Bronze), Steve Petrencek (Bronze), Jill Darling (Gold)  82.5kg Medal Platform, Devan Doan(Bronze)  Devan Doan |