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Two world records for China at Tokyo Olympic 2020 weightlifting test event

Posted by Marie Curtis on
Two world records for China at Tokyo Olympic 2020 weightlifting test event

Elite weightlifters of China enjoyed mixed fortunes at the Ready Steady Tokyo Olympic test event taking place at Tokyo International Forum, with two breaking world records while others missed so many lifts.

There was also a career-best performance by Masanori Miyamoto from Japan as well as a visit from the former Prime Minister of Japan Yoshiro Mori, who is President of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee.

Weightlifting is the first sport to take test event to involve the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is organizing the competition with the partnership of the Japan Weightlifting Association and the support of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).

Chinese weightlifter Chen Lijun, who had held three world records in the 67kg, had a day to forget since he bombed out in the snatch and lost his world record in that lift to his teammate Huang Minhao.

Huang, 26 years old, made 155-173 for a career-best 328kg, while Chen Lijun came out for 2 clean and jerks to show what may have been, lifting 170-180 and then skipping the third attempt.

The other world record of the day, also in the snatch, belonged to Hou Zhihui in the women’s 49kg after she had made all 3 snatch attempts to finish on 95kg and beaten her own world record by 1kg. However, she missed 2 clean and jerks and totaled 205kg, better than her teammate Jang Huihua by only 1kg.

The most improved performance by a lifter of Japan came from Miyamoto, the second to Shi Zhiyong in the men’s 73kg.

In the IWF World Championships of last year, gold medallist Shi finished 29kg clear of 12th-placed Miyamoto. It was much closer at the Forum since Shi missed 3 attempts to finish on 345kg.

Miyamoto upgraded his national record and personal best by 10kg in order to finish on 341kg, only 4kg behind Shi.

Li Dayin, 21 years old, made the biggest lift of the day with a 202kg clean and jerk and then finished well clear of world champion Lyu Xiaojun in the 81kg.

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Powerlifting Widnes family break records at recent competitions

Posted by Marie Curtis on
Powerlifting Widnes family break records at recent competitions

A weightlifting family from Widnes has set new records at championship competitions.

Father and daughter duo Dave and Kayleigh Morris recently competed at the British Powerlifting Union and the Amateur British Powerlifting Union British finals at Bodypower, Birmingham and the WPC European Finals in Limerick, Ireland.

The duo has been training together and competed in competitions series earlier in this year.

At the British finals, the family is going from strength to strength with 18-year-old Kayleigh competing in the T3 division under the 90 kg class. She broke her own record in the UK of 105kg with lifts of 107.5k and 122.5kg and also won the gold medal.

Kayleigh went on to the European Championships 5 weeks later when she won the title, as well as setting new UK, European, and World’s record with a deadlift of 115kg.

48-year-old Dave Morris is widely-known as The Gorilla in powerlifting. Dave is a 26 stone power-lifter who won both titles in the Masters two super heavyweight division in both raw bench and raw deadlift with a press of 222.5kg. He also gained a new BPU UK deadlift record 312.5kg.

In the present, Dave holds not only both UK records in raw bench and raw deadlift but also a WPC European record in deadlift as well as WPC and IPL World records in the deadlift. He is currently ranked the world’s number two dead-lifter for his division.

Then he went on to the European Championships in Limerick, Ireland, winning both the raw bench press title with a press of 225kg and a new Europe and World’s WPC record deadlift of 312.5kg. He received 2 best lifter awards for his great performances.

Sister of Kayleigh and daughter of Dave, Nat Morris, 21, is also a big part of the success of the family. She went to the European Championships, helping to keep stress levels to a minimum and making sure that everything was taken care of at weigh-ins.

In addition, she will compete within the bodybuilding of women and also power lift in her bodybuilding offseason.

All three members are now fully sponsored athletes at Dedicated Fitness XL Gym in Huyton.