D’Angelo Osorio has proven himself a force to be reckoned with. The 105-kilogram weightlifter (who rose to fame as a 94-kilo junior) set a person record and a new PWA record this weekend at a meet held by Occam Athletics in Sacramento, California.
Watch Osorio’s clean & jerk of 215 kilograms (473 pounds) below, which (we believe!) was the biggest clean & jerk from a non-superheavyweight American male in competition since Wes Barnett lifted 220 kilograms at the World Championships in 1999. That lift earned Barnett a bronze medal.
A year ago, we wrote about Osorio’s only-just-barely-missed attempt at a 211 kilogram clean & jerk at last year’s PWA championships. We wrote at the time, “Recent performances suggests Osorio has pushed through his old numbers for good, and hopefully it’s just the start of new progress for one of the USA’s more exciting lifters.”
Osorio is a 2014 Pan American medalist and 2014 Senior World Team Member, and while his performances in 2015 were a little spotty, he seems to have turned a corner in his training. Check out his new pause front squat PR that he set a week ago with 235 kilograms (517 pounds).
Originally from San Francisco, Osorio first started training at Hassle Free Barbell Club. (That’s the same weightlifting club that trains Kuinini Manumua, who earned a bronze medal at this year’s IWF Youth World Championships.) He started weightlifting during his freshman year at Abraham Lincoln High School in 2008 as a means to improve his performance in football, though he later quit football to focus on weightlifting, which he said in a 2015 interview is “the best sport ever.” He also admitted that he hoped to one day make the American Olympic weightlifting team.
We’re sure as heck looking forward to seeing what kind of numbers he puts up at the 2017 USAW Nationals, which are set to take place between May 11 and 14 in Chicago, Illinois.
Featured image via @dangelo_osorio on Instagram.
