Over the weekend, Team USA weightlifter CJ Cummings had a stellar performance at the 2018 Weightlifting World Championships and ended up breaking two Junior Weightlifting World Records. This year’s Weightlifting World Championships are being held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and kicked off November 1st and run through November 10th.
There are still four action packed days of competition left, and if you’re interested in tuning in live to watch the World Championships, then check out this link.
In the newly established, very competitive -73kg weight class, Cummings had plenty to prove going into the competition. At the young age of 18, Cummings has already built a strong name for himself in the sport of weightlifting and once again proved he could hold his own against some of the world’s best -73kg weightlifters including China’s Shi Zhiyong and South Korea’s Won Jeongsik.
For the snatch, Cummings went 3/3 and finished with a 148kg snatch. This feat fell 4kg shy of USA Weightlifting’s new -73kg Senior American Record standard.
Moving on to the clean & jerk, Cummings opened with a very smooth 181kg and moved up to 186kg for his second attempt, but unfortunately just missed it. For his third attempt, Cummings called for 187kg on the bar, a feat that awarded him with a Junior World Record and increased his standing on the leaderboard by one spot.
On top of improving his spot on the leaderboard and earning a Junior Clean & Jerk World Record, the successful 187kg third attempt also awarded Cummings the Junior World Record for total. Cummings ended the day with a 335kg total and took home 10th place, making him the youngest competitor to finish in the top 20.
At last year’s Weightlifting World Championships, Cummings was unable to get on the board in his clean & jerk attempts. It was great seeing Cummings come back from 2017 and take home two Junior World Records, go ⅚, and hold his own in an even more competitive weight class.
Feature image from @usa_weightlifting Instagram page and photo by @everyday_lifters.
