IWF Weightlifting World Cup – Men’s 73 kg Recap 

Day 5 of the IWF Weightlifting World Cup in Thailand presented us with the eye-grabbing performances of 14 weightlifters who created lots of hallmark moments during this competition day. 

Men’s 73-kg division outperformed our expectations by witnessing exciting and unexpected results. We were constantly under pressure while watching the live performance as nobody knew how each lift would result.

Watch this overview to know who in the 73-kg category will head the division ranking and increase the chances to qualify for Paris.

Athletes presentation 

Today we were spectating 14 weightlifters who presented the audience with such a legendary competition that changed the history flow directing the Olympics.

Let’s name some of the brightest weightlifters who were competing today:

SUHAREVS Ritvars from Latvia, a four-time gold medalist of the European Youth Championships, and a European Champion in his current weight category.

SHI Zhiyong from China, a two-time Olympic, three-time World, and four-time Asian Champion, and current World Record holder in Snatch and Total.

ABDULLAH Rahmat Erwin from Indonesia, a two-time gold medalist at the World Champs in 2021 and 2022. He took bronze at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He’s also a multiple time gold and silver medalist at the Asian Championships, Islamic Games, and Asian Junior Champs as well.

JUNIANSYAH Rizki, from Indonesia, a promising silver medalist at the Worlds in Bogota and 2024 Asian Championships in Tashkent. He’s a three-time gold medalist at the Islamic Solidarity Games and two-time champion at the junior world champs.

WICHUMA Weeraphon, from Thailand, who won gold at the 2023 World Champs in Riyadh.

Snatch review 

The performance in the Snatch exercise started from 146 kg.

• 10: CALJA BRIKEN  –  152 kg
• 9: REYIMOV Bektimur – 153 kg
• 8: GUTU ROBERTO – 153 kg
• 7: JAVADOV OMAR – 153 kg
• 6: RASHIDOV BUNYAD – 155 kg
• 5: SUHAREVS Ritvars – 157kg
• 4: MIYAMOTO Masanori – 158 kg

On this contest day, 57 % of all attempts were successful. While one athlete bombed out the exercise.

Top 3 leaders’ results

Now let’s analyze the Top 3 lifters’ performance:

• 🥉: ABDULLAH Rahmat Erwin – 160 kg
• 🥈: JUNIANSYAN Rizki – 164 kg
• 🥇: SHI Zhiyong – 165 kg

ABDULLAH Rahmat Erwin from Indonesia clinched bronze by snatching 155 kg on the first attempt, then he lifted 160 kg with success. But his last attempt resulted in no-lift of 162 kg. By the way, previously he lifted 161 kg at the Grand Prix II in Doha, which brought him silver.

His teammate, JUNIANSYAH Rizki took a silver medal: he lifted 155 kg on the first attempt, but failed to snatch 164 kg on the second attempt. His third lift of 164 kg finished successfully with a silver medal in the Snatch exercise under his belt. Today he managed to improve his Snatch as it was his best result in the exercise.

The category’s leader became SHI Zhiyong from China who started with a lift of 161 kg, then upped the weight for 164 kg but failed to lift it. Although, the last attempt of 165 kg brought him a victory. Despite that today it was the best result in Snatch, his best was 169 kg which is a current world record he set at the 2020 Asian Championships.

Italian ZANNI Mirko didn’t manage to cope with pressure and bombed out all three attempts.

Clean & Jerk review 

The competition in the Clean & Jerk discipline started with a weight of 178 kg.

• 10:CALJA BRIKEN – 181 kg
• 9: SUHAREVS Ritvars – 184 kg
• 8: MOSQUERA LOZANO – 185 kg
• 7: MAYORA PERNA – 188 kg
• 6: OZBEK Muhammed – 189 kg
• 5: SHI Zhiyong – 191 kg
• 4: MIYAMOTO Masanori – 192 kg

On this contest day, 46 % of all attempts were successful. Three lifters bombed out in the exercise, with Mirko Zanni from Italy refusing to compete after his failed Snatch attempts.

Top 3 leaders’ results

Let’s describe the performance of the Top 3 lifters:

• 🥉: BAK Joohyo – 195 kg
• 🥈: ABDULLAH Rahmat Erwin – 195 kg
• 🥇: JUNIANSYAH Rizki – 201 kg

The bronze medal went to the Southern Korean lifter BAK Joohyo who jerked 192 kg on the first attempt, then increased the weight by 3 kg up to 195 kg that he lifted successfully. However, the last attempt of 199 kg ended up with red lights. By the way, he improved his Clean & Jerk results by 4 kilos: his prior best lift was 191 kg he performed at the 2023 Asian Championships.

The silver medalist was Indonesian ABDULLAH Rahmat Erwin who lifted 195 kg only on the first attempt. The second lift of 206 kg resulted in no lift. While the same happened in the third attempt: he didn’t cope with the 206-kg-barbell. Thus, he failed to set a new World Record in the Clean & Jerk.

The winner in the Clean & Jerk exercise was JUNIANSYAH Rizki from Indonesia. He impressed everyone with his powerful performance: he lifted 192 kg at ease on the first attempt, then secured the barbell with the weight of 201 kg. Eventually, he failed his third attempt to lift 203 kg. Still, he got gold surpassing his teammate Rahman Erwin.

Total results

1. 🥇 JUNIANSYAH Rizki –  365 kg 
2. 🥈 SHI Zhiyong –  356 kg
3. 🥉 ABDULLAH Rahmat Erwin – 355 kg 
4. MIYAMOTO Masanori  – 350  kg 
5. BAK Joohyo  – 345  kg 
6. SUHAREVS Ritvars  –  341  kg
7. OZBEK Muhammed –  341  kg

So, let’s rename our Top 3 athletes who deserved being on the winning podium:

Indonesian ABDULLAH Rahmat Erwin closed the Top 3 with the result of 355 kg falling behind his teammate by ten kilos. Unfortunately, he won’t go to Paris as JUNIANSYAH Rizki significantly prevailed this time.

The silver medalist was Chinese SHI Zhiyong who lifted nine kilos less than his opponent from the first place.

The winner of the 73-kg weight category became JUNIANSYAH Rizki from Indonesia who lifted 365 kg. As a result, he succeeded in setting a new World Record in total.

The final point

This evening’s performance in the category showed us impressive weights and pure race targeting the Olympic quotas. Due to high resilience and extreme physical form the most promising weightlifters succeeded to qualify for the Olympic Games and show their peak form.

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Stay strong and remember – warm body, cold mind!