We are a few days into the IWF Junior World Weightlifting Championships, which are running from June 1st til June 8th, and Team USA is already making a splash. The latest athlete to make waves in the competition was none other than CJ Cummings.
Hot off of a massive performance at the 2019 Pan American Championships, Cummings has furthered his name as one of the best Junior Weightlifters on Earth and has brought home another gold and World Champion title for Team USA in the -73kg weight class. This makes him the first American to be named IWF Junior World Champion in four consecutive world championships (and to our knowledge, the first lifter from any country).
Cummings’ Performance By the Numbers
- Snatch: 145kg — Silver
- Clean & Jerk: 192kg — Gold/Junior World Record
- Total: 337kg — Gold
In the IWF’s press release detailing Cummings’ performance, the lifter said, “I am extremely happy and excited for this year’s gold medal as never anyone from the USA had four Junior World Champion titles before. My next competition will be the Junior Pan-American Championships, which I also would like to win and build up my ROBI points to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.”
Unfortunately, Cummings only managed to hit his opener for the day in the snatch, but he absolutely dominated the clean & jerk. His opener of 180kg was 5kg higher than the second place clean & jerk. On top of that, his 337kg total was 17kg over the second place finisher Paul Dimitrascu’s 320kg total.
In late April, Cummings brought home gold across the board at the 2019 Pan American Championships and shattered a remarkable 15 records. As he stated above, his next performance will be the Junior Pan American Championships, which is set to take place June 26-30th in La Habana, Cuba.
Three competitions within three months is phenomenal, especially performing at this level. With yet another gold-level qualifying event under his belt, Cummings is looking well on his way to potentially qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Editor’s Note: BarBend is the Official Media Partner of USA Weightlifting. The two organizations maintain editorial independence unless otherwise specified on partner content.
Feature image from @usa_weightlifting Instagram page and photo taken by @zoomfiji.
