British powerlifter Nonso Chinye was the 2023 Sub-Junior (ages 14-18) world champion in the 120KG class, moving up to the Junior (ages 19-23) category in 2024. Although this is often a difficult transition, Chinye seems to have found an extra gear.
Chinye swept victory at the 2024 International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) Junior World Championships in Malta, finishing over 35 kilograms ahead of his nearest rival.
Chinye took the silver medal on squat but slipped back a little on bench press. At sub-total, he was among four lifters, all clustered together within 20 kilograms of each other. However, Chinye streaked into the lead with his opening deadlift of 355 kilograms, putting him 30 kilograms ahead of the rest of the pack.
For his second deadlift, Chinye called for a Junior world record attempt of 385.5 kilograms and made it look easy. Check out the lift below, courtesy of the IPF’s Instagram page:
Chinye approached the barbell and set up his conventional stance before closing his lifting belt. Using a mixed grip, with one hand pronated and the other supinated, he pulled the slack out of the bar and began the lift. He locked out the colossal weight with apparent ease and claimed both the junior deadlift world record and the junior total world record.
Having secured the junior world record, Chinye set his sights on the open world record. In the 120KG class, this stood at 396 kilograms and belonged to Lebanese heavyweight Etienne El Chaer in his first year out of the juniors. However, this did not present a tempting enough target for Chinye, who attempted a gargantuan 411 kilograms.
This number is significant because it would be the heaviest raw deadlift world record in the IPF, exceeding the 410.5-kilogram record in the 120+KG class.
In retrospect, this was a step too far. Chinye got the weight to his knees but could not get it all the way to lockout. Coincidentally, later that same day, Temur Samkharadze, in the +120KG class, nudged the record up to 411 kilograms himself.
2024 IPF Junior World Championships Results — Nonso Chinye, 120KG | Raw
- Squat
- 310 kilograms
- 327.5 kilograms
- 342.5 kilograms
- Bench Press
- 197.5 kilograms
- 205 kilograms
- 210 kilograms
- Deadlift
- 355 kilograms
- 385.5 kilograms — IPF Classic Junior World Record
- 411 kilograms
- Total — 938 kilograms — IPF Classic Junior World Record
Chinye will next hit the platform at the British Open Classic Championships in Wolverhampton in November 2024. He will face off against established British heavyweights Inderraj Singh Dhillon and Tony Cliffe to compete for a place on the Open British team heading to Chemnitz, Germany, in 2025.
Featured image: @theipf on Instagram
