Yesterday, in one of the most tense sessions of weightlifting so far at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, two men set two different Commonwealth Games records in the 94KG category.
In the snatch, 20 year old Boady Santavy of Canada made all three attempts, ending with 168KG to break the previous record that was set 16 years ago. Santavy, who recently placed 6th overall at the 2017 World Championships, was ahead by 9KG over snatch silver medalist Vikas Thakur of India and 14KG on 2012 Olympian Steven Kari of Papua New Guinea, who won the bronze in that lift.
In the clean & jerk, the competition for the overall gold came down to two men: Santavy and Kari. Santavy successfully lifted 201KG and finished the day with a 369KG total. Kari, the defending champion from the Commonwealth Games in 2014, successfully opened with 202KG, then called for a massive increase to 216KG for the win. Having two attempts remaining, he only needed one attempt to successfully defend his title and makeup the difference from the snatch portion.
This also represented another new Commonwealth Games record, as the previous record of 205KG had been in place since the 1998 edition of the Games.
The overall medalists were:
Gold: Steven Kari (PNG) – 370KG
Silver: Boady Santavy (CAN) – 369KG
Bronze: Vikas Thakur (IND) – 351KG
A victorious Kari celebrated on the platform, as he won the first gold medal for Papua New Guinea at these Games. Meanwhile for Canada, they are currently in third place as a team for weightlifting, behind India and Malaysia.
The Canadian team has already won five medals heading into the last day of competition on Monday. Led by 63KG Champion Maude Charron, they also earned silver medals from Tali Darsigny (58KG) and two-time Olympian Marie-Eve Beauchemin-Nadeau, as well as a bronze medal from Rachel Leblanc-Bazinet (53KG). Santavy was the first man to win a medal for Canada this week in Olympic Weightlifting.
Featured image: @michaelabreeze on Instagram
