The 2016 Junior World Weightlifting Championships is in full swing (watch live here), and for the first time in nearly 46 years, and American male holds a world record.
CJ Cummings came back from a 4th place performance in the snatch to win the gold in the clean & jerk and total/overall in Tbilisi. Cummings, who turned 16 on June 6th, racked up an astounding list of records with his 6 for 6 performance:
69kg Youth World Record in the Clean & Jerk (broken twice, 175kg and 180kg)
69kg Youth World Record in the Total (317kg)
69kg American Record in the Clean & Jerk (180kg)
69kg American Record in the Total (317kg)
69kg American Youth and Junior Records in the Snatch (137kg), Clean & Jerk, and Total
CJ Cummings also becomes the first American man to win a world championship (in any category) since Oscar Chaplin III, who won the Junior Worlds in 2000.
His clean & jerks make Cummings the first American male to hold a world record in weightlifting since 1970. The last was Artie Dreschler, who held the Junior clean & press world record in 1970 — back when that was still an active Olympic weightlifting discipline.
Videos of Cumming’s remarkable last lift are below. He actually set the new Youth marks twice, once with 175kg (second attempt) and once with 180kg (third attempt). The previous Youth mark was 173kg.
Another angle of his last lift:
For over a year, Cummings has been touted as one of the most promising young lifters in American weightlifting. He’s more than lived up to the hype at this competition, and he still has one more year to lift in the Youth category (and nearly four more as a Junior).
Learn more about CJ Cummings in our profile and interview with him from earlier this month.
