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2007 Men’s and Women’s World Championships
Soelden, Austria October 14-20
Write-up by Sherman Ledford
Another write-up and Link to the Results here
The 37th Open Men's Worlds was in Soelden, Austria. Taking the shuttle from Munich to Soelden, we saw some of the most beautiful landscape in the world. The snowcapped mountains and beautiful waterfalls were awe inspiring. What a beautiful place to have such a meet. When we got to Soelden, someone said, "The views were like a high-def television picture." I guess that is the best way to describe it. The town was almost deserted but had quite a few nice eateries with the venue just being a few minutes walk away. The venue was set up very professionally and the only draw backs were the long, narrow warm up area and very tiny staging area with a very awkward two stage ramp coming up to the stage. We as a team were excited coming into this meet with everybody healthy and injury free. Each lifter's training coming into the meet was spot on and we were expecting big things from each individual.
The 123's and 132's started it off. The 123 division ended up as expected with a fight for 2nd place. Sergey Fedosienko, fresh off a drug suspension back in May of 2005, went 1515 at 114. Who would have ever thought that a 114 would have to take anabolics to total over 1500!? Sergey came in and shattered the world record by 40 kg, which was held by Konsantin Pavlov, a 10x world champion in his own right. Sergey is definitely a genetic freak, squatting 617, benching 391 and deadlifting 534. The crazy thing is, Sergey has actually pulled 567 at 114! Shih Wu Lu from Chinese Taipei totaled 1389 to come in second and the ageless Hiroyuki Isagawa, who was 1st in this class, last year, came in 3rd with a 1378 total. Hiroyuki deservedly was also elected into the IPF Hall of Fame. It is great to see a great lifter such as Hiroyuki get recognized as such. Ervin Gainer Sr. had some great training in his new weight class since the IPF saw fit to alleviate the 114 class last year. Ervin has done a great job filling out into his new weight class and I see only big things ahead of him. Ervin had a huge PR squat of 485, tied his PR bench of 314 and had a new PR total, cracking the 1300 lb total barrier, with 1306 to put him in 6th place overall.
Absent from the 132's was Darimin Sutrisno after setting the world record at the Asian Championships. Sutrisno is like an unexplained oddity that unexplainably comes and goes out of world championships, but always has to be one of the favorites when he shows. With Sutrisno not being in the mix, it looked like it was going to be a three-way battle between Tsung Ting Hsieh of Chinese Taipei, multi-time world champion Konstantin Pavlov of Russia and new to the class, Damarrio "Doc" Holloway of the U.S.
Hsieh ended up being the undeniable overall winner with a 1592 total via a 573 squat, a huge 424 bench and a predictable 595 deadlift. Hsieh is one of the most balanced lifters in our sport. He has been a formidable opponent as far back as his junior years. It is hard to beat an athlete with this kind of balance. 2nd place is where the fireworks happened. Pavlov started it off with a strong 589 squat, but Doc was right behind him with 567. On to bench, where Pavlov benched a strong 413. Doc finished with 341. Pavlov's subtotal was 1003 and Doc's was 909. Some would think this would be an insurmountable lead, but when it comes to Doc, who has the 5th highest deadlift of all time at 123, it is not. Pavlov opened up with 462, which made Doc's opener 562 to take the lead. This weight for Doc should have been simple, after hitting 605 in training relatively easily. As a side note, after observing the whole meet and at this time was not obvious, the bar used at this championship was a horrific mistake. I saw this bar dropped more times in this one meet than in five world championships combined. It was a new bar with deep, coarse knurling and was chromed. The center smooth was like glass and as the meet went on, as a coach, you had to pick attempts based on what you thought your lifter and other lifters could hold on to. I've never seen this at any meet in 25 years; that a piece of equipment could take over a world championship such as this. However, this did happen. Doc's 1st attempt seemed strong, and once at the top, seemed to put the bar down simultaneously with the down call, but grip was a concern. 3 reds. WOW! The officials said he didn't have control at the top. Pavlov pulled his 462, and it didn't look great! Pavlov went up 5 kg to 473 and muscled it up for a very hard attempt. The call had already been put in for Doc to repeat his first attempt. On his second, Doc lost his grip. This is an oddity for Doc, in the fact that rarely have I ever seen Doc lose his grip on a deadlift. Pavlov went up another 5 kg, pulled it to about his knees, and dropped the bar. The bar was starting to grossly affect the outcome of the meet. On the 3rd attempt, Doc came out for the same weight, was instructed to move his hands out to get more knurling, pulled it to completion and held it for the "down" call. Two whites and one red. The celebration was on! Third at worlds in his new weight class! A couple of minutes passed and another lifter's attempt passed. Then an announcement came that Doc's third attempt had been overturned by the jury. To say this was strange would be an understatement. In the IPF rulebook, under Jury and Technical Committee, under Jury, section 9, it reads, "Only in Extreme circumstances, when there has been and obvious or BLATANT mistake in the refereeing, will the jury in CONSULTATION with the referees, reverse the decision." The president of the jury at the time was Johnny Wiklund from Sweden. I tried to approach the jury table and was not allowed by Mr. Wiklund, which he does not have the power to do. A coach is allowed to approach the jury table in any such case. This was one of the many rules that they broke of their own. Section 9 above reads, "The jury has to consult with the referees to reverse a decision." This did NOT happen. Why are there rules for the jury to follow if they can take a meet into their own hands and do whatever they want? This was a travesty, to say the least. The jury was not even unanimous in their decision. It was split 2-1. Mr. Wiklund basically went against the IPF rules, which were written to keep the INTEGRITY OF THE SPORT, and did basically what he wanted to do. At the worst, the lifter should have been given another attempt, since it was 2-1 good on the platform and 2-1 not good at the jury. That is 3-3 in my book. In my opinion, these officials do not know what "blatant" means. It was sad, to say the least.
On to the 148's. The overall winner was multi-time world champion and world record holder, Ravil Kazakov. Kazakov went 683, 490, 540 for a 1714 total. There was a pretty good battle for second with Hassan El Belghitti, from France, winning second with a 1576 and Japan's Masaharu Koiwai not far behind with a 1570 total. T. J. Hoerner from the U.S. crushed his opening squat of 600. He then jumped to 644 and hit it twice easily but was called on depth both times. The 44 lbs that was lost would have catapulted T. J. up into 4th position overall. T. J. hit a nice bench of 330 and opened his deadlift at 551. Throwing technique aside, T .J. approached the bar and ripped it up to completion, leaving his shoulders a little forward. Red lights, so we took the attempt again. After a little coaching, T. J. came out for his second with better form and pulled it easily. We then jumped to 584. T. J. approached the bar with "use your legs" ringing in his ears. He pulled it easily for his (by far) best attempt. It looked like he would have been good for 615+!
Now the 165's. Jaroslaw Olech, the multi time world champion and previous champion of champions, had moved up from 148 to 165. This was going to be a three-way battle between Olech of Poland, Wade Hooper of the USA and a youngster from Russia, Alexander Govorin, who is a squatting and deadlifting phenomenally for his age. Olech opened his squat at 727, as did Wade. Govorin opened his squat at 683. All were good attempts. Olech jumped to a world record 771. I have seen Olech squat many times and, at best, would say his depth is questionable in most instances. Larry Maile was in the warm-up room with us and I told Larry to go to the jury table before Olech's second squat because I had a feeling it was going to be high. Wade came in with a 755 second attempt and muscled it up. Up next was Olech with 771, a world record attempt. Down and up, strong. I was watching from the back and it looked high. White lights. Maile never made it to the jury table because there was a mob of coaches in front of him protesting the call. The lift was overturned. Wade attempted 766 on his 3rd and it was just a bit too much. Olech came back with a deeper, strong 771. Good lift. On to the bench. Wade hit a strong 518 with Olech coming in with just one attempt at 440. Govorin was back with 385. This is not his best lift since he can almost scratch his knees standing straight up (good for pulling). On to the deadlift. Wade's opener was put in at 556 to solidify what we thought would be second place, knowing that Govorin had pulled 727 at the Russian Cup but thought 744 would be a bit too much. The bar at this time had to be taken into consideration for each attempt. Olech opened up with 661 and pulled it strong. On to 683 for Olech. Wade's opener at 556 looked good. On to 573. Govorin pulled 677 like the bar was empty. Wade came out for his second and pulled it to completion. Nice! At the top, one second passed... two seconds passed... three seconds passed.... The head official for some reason just waited until Wade dropped the bar after about 4 or 5 seconds. This is something that has always puzzled me. Why a lifter is not given the "down" signal after the lift is finished. This is not a grip competition. It seems that if an official thinks someone's grip is suspect, they make them hold it an unacceptable extended period of time. Govorin comes out for his second at 705, EZ! WOW! Olech hits 683 and goes to 699. Wade comes out for 573 again and loses his grip. Olech misses 699 and they load 744 on the bar for Govorin for 2nd place. Did we pick the right opener? I guess we were going to find out. Govorin approaches the bar and the bar jumps off the floor. Oh sh**. The bar has good speed to his knees, past his knees and up to mid-thigh. Then the bar and weight took over, dropping it at mid-thigh. Time to celebrate a silver for Wade! It's was nice to have some good points on the board. Thanks Wade!
At 181, it was a 4-way battle between Davranbek Turakhanov of Kazakstan, Sergey Bogdanov of Russia, Dave Ricks of the USA and Jan Wegiera of Poland. This was quite a battle and came down to the end. Dave Ricks is a mild-mannered guy with a military background but when he takes off his glasses to lift, turns into superman. Dave has some of the best raw strength I have ever seen. The fight for first was between Turakhanov and Bogdanov. Turakhanov squatted 733 with Bogdanov not far behind with 727. At subtotal, Bogdanov was 27 lbs in front. Turakhanov came out for his first deadlift and it was ugly, dropping it about mid-thigh. Nevertheless, he jumped 7.5 kg to tie Bogdanov on his first, with the lighter bodyweight. We thought he might bomb. He came out and pulled it strong on his second. He jumped 10 kg to tie Bogdanov again and pulled it for the win on bodyweight. Dave opened his squat with 672. Nice. On to 699. There was a ridge in the platform, not far behind the ER rack. On his second, Dave got in the ridge and had some balance issues. No lift. 699 for the 3rd. Good set up, a little bit farther back. He crushed it. He looked good for 720+. Damn! On to the bench. Dave's first bench was an easy 440. Red lights for his head being up off of the bench. Small jump to 457, strong. On to 473, good lift. On to the deadlift. Dave started with a 660 opener, good. 705 was next to "pull" into 3rd. The bar became a factor again. As Dave pulled it almost to completion, he had to cut it short at the top to hold on. No lift. It was time for superman to make a quick change. Dave always pulls in a singlet and it was no exception today. Tony Harris suggested that Dave put on a light suit. Dave's response was "what have I got to lose"? Quick to the back for a change into a loose Dual Quad and then back out front. Dave is old school and does not like powder. James Townsend had other ideas and grabbed Dave's leg and put it up on a chair and coated both legs with powder, seeing Dave's face, I don't think this was his favorite moment. With a little forearm massage for extra grip strength, Dave approached the platform, geared and powdered up. He ripped the 705 no problem. Then, as we always love to hear after a big, superman lift, "Oh yeah, Oh yeah!" Dave had "pulled" off 3rd place. Great job!
There was a lot of anticipation for Thursday's 198's. Andrey Belyaev did not disappoint. Belyaev hit an easy 837 squat, bettering the 27 year old world record squat of Fred Hatfield's. This record has been broken in the past but has stood the test of time with drug testing failures. Belyaev then went on to bench 567. Belyaev opened up with an easy 749 deadlift, jumped to 793 and the bar jumped off the floor but he lost his grip mid-thigh. As I said before, the bar really affected this meet adversely. He then jumped to 826 to break Walter Thomas's long-time deadlift record. Grip issues again. Belyaev has pulled 822 in the past and strength, at this meet, was not an issue. Belyaev totaled an amazing 2154. It's amazing to me that some of these guys actually get stronger after coming off of a drug suspension. We have not seen power like this since Ed Coan. There was a good fight for 2nd, but Italy's Daniele Ghirardi beat Ukraine's Andriy Krymov on bodyweight. Both totaled 1940.
In the 220 class, multi-time world champion at 198, Andrey Tarasenko, moved up and took 1st with a strong 2199 total. Russia went 1 and 2, with Konstantin Lebedko finishing with a 2154 total. There was quite a battle for 3rd between Ukraine's Sergiy Pevnev and USA's Jason Beck. Jason had two strong squats, getting 804, but had balance issues on his 3rd. Pevnev ended up with a 799 squat. Jason was strong in his squats and the 826 that he fell backwards on turned out to be very costly at the end. Both individuals had strong benches. Jason finished with a 595 and Pevnev hit 578. Jason had a 22 lb. advantage at subtotal. Jason's first attempt deadlift was 688. Good lift. On to 705. Good lift. Pevnev was the lighter lifter, making his attempts of 710 and 727 to take the advantage. Jason's last attempt at 722 came strong off the floor and was dropped mid-thigh, tearing callous' off of both hands. Pevnev ended with 738, making a total of 2116 to take 3rd, with Jason at 2105 for 4th place. Jason ended up with a bronze medal in the squat and a gold in the bench. He also gave the U.S. some good points.
The 242's were a brutal weight class. Of the 18 lifters in this class, three did not get a squat passed and four others had only one successful attempt. Multi-time national and world champion, Tony Harris, had one squat passed and this is an oddity to say the least. Tony is one of the most consistent lifters the U.S. has ever had. Mike Mastrean didn't fare as well as Tony, not having any of his strong squats passed. Maxin Barkhatov of Russia finished with a Herculean 2315 total, 110 lbs. ahead of the field. Oleksiy Rokochiy of the Ukraine finished with a strong 2204 total for 2nd. The next 5 places were decided by 50 lbs. A side note here: Many of the U.S. lifters had trouble maintaining their bodyweight. I really don't know if this was the dry climate, high altitude, food or a combination of these. (e.g., Mike's weight plummeted 3+ kg before he lifted.) Tony made one squat and one bench and a decision was made to only take two deadlift attempts. Tony opened up with 727 and the bar was loaded to 777 to "pull" into 3rd. How many times have we seen Tony Harris pull a monster deadlift, often times a world record, to move up in the rankings. Tony came out to a boisterous crowd cheering him on. The bar left the floor with good speed and all the way to the top with only the shoulders not back. The "down" call came and the lift was not passed. I would just like to add that, in the conditions, this was awe inspiring to watch. Mike continued the meet with a PR 578 bench and pulled a 755 deadlift to completion but was called for a technicality.
On Saturday, there was a lot of excitement for the big guys. In the 275's, there was a 3-way battle between the USA's Tony Cardella, Great Britain's Clive Henry and a young Ukraine lifter, Oleksandr Shepil. Tony's training had gone well and was primed to hit a big number. In the squats, Clive, as always, was out front with a nice 936. Oleksandr hit 881 and Tony came in with a PR 859. In the bench, Tony opened up with a conservative 562. On to 584. Good lift. A quick shirt change and 600 came up relatively easily, but was called for his head being off of the bench. Clive and Oleksandr managed to get their openers, which were 573 and 529, respectively. Clive had the lead coming into the deadlift with a big 1510 subtotal. Tony was in 2nd with 1444 and not far behind was Oleksandr with 1410. On to the deadlift, where Tony has really excelled the past couple of years. Tony opened with a nice 727. Clive made 694 and Oleksandr opened with 749. Clive finished with 710 on his second, missing his 3rd. Tony hit a strong 782 and Oleksandr went 793. The decision was made for Tony to go 810 on his 3rd to push Oleksandr to a back breaking 843. Tony's 810 went as expected - nice and strong. Oleksandr came out for the win and pulled 843 off the floor and past his knees and the bar stalled and dropped. Tony Cardella was a well deserved World Champion! The celebration was on! I would just like to say that Tony is one of the most dedicated lifters I've ever been around. Tony had some health issues a couple of years back, which knocked him down a little, but like a true champion, Tony just beared down and made his dream a reality. Thanks for the 12 points Tony!
The Super's were up next and the 2005 world champion from Russia, Vladimir Bondarenko was tops in the class with a 2408 total via 959, 617 & 832. In all of these lifts, he had room to spare. The battle in this class was for 2nd between multi-time world champion Brad Gillingham from the USA and Ove Lehto from Finland. It was close in the squats, with Brad hitting a nice 848 and Ove hitting 859. In the bench, Brad ended up with 611 and Ove with 699, to give Ove a 100 lb. lead at subtotal. Ove's deadlift opener was 716, while Brad's was 782. Both good lifts. Ove then went to 738 on his second and Brad to 832. Both good lifts. Ove ended up with 755, which made Brad's 3rd a bar-bending 859. This was the last lift of the meet. The crowd was going crazy to see if the master's world record holder could "pull" into 2nd. Brad approached the bar and with his patented, double overhand grip, got the bar moving. A little slow in the middle, and you can always tell when it gets over his knees, and that expression comes on his face, that you're seeing history in the making. Up to completion, a new master's world record total and a 2nd place finish at the 37th IPF World Championships and a Gold in the deadlift. Brad is truly a legendary figure in USA Powerlifting.
At the end of the day the USA team was in 2nd place with 50 points. Ukraine was in 3rd with 47, and Poland in 4th with 44.
The Russians were back on top again with a perfect score of 72. The Executive Committee for the IPF decided to bring back Russia and Ukraine from a drug-suspension which enabled them to compete this year. I think I can speak for most of the guys in that WE DO want to face the best competition, but it was disappointing that Russia brought 4 recently suspended athletes which all finished in 1st place with an average Wilks score of 623.13, and a couple of these guys looked like they were coasting. It would have been better if the EC would have had the fore thought to at least instruct both teams not to bring any lifters that had tested positive in the past to this competition, especially being brought back a year early. The only other issue I saw in this is why didn't the Disciplinary Committee decide on the issue of bringing these teams back. Is that not their job???
Sherman Ledford
USA Powerlifting Men's Head Coach
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