Ukrainian powerlifter Dmytro Semenenko has added an enormous 4.24 times bodyweight squat to the history books at the IPF Open World Championships: 445.5 kilograms (982.1 pounds) at -105kg bodyweight. (He weighed 104.98 kilograms — that weigh in must have been a nail-biter.)
Check out the incredible lift below.
Very importantly, this was the heaviest squat made by any athlete in any weight class at the 2017 IPF Open World Championships. It was 25.5 kilograms (56.2lb) heavier than the second heaviest squat in his weight class, made by Kazakhstan’s Zalim Kuvambayev, and 13 kilograms (28.6lb) heavier than the second heaviest from the whole competition, which was made by two superheavyweight athletes: fellow Ukrainian Volodymyr Svistunov and the American Joseph Cappellino.
Superheavyweight squat world record holder Blaine Sumner posted a “Such a monster. Congratulations champ!” in Semenenko’s Instagram comments.
You can see a few more angles of the lift and hear the color commentary in this clip from the IPF’s live stream of the event.
Now, in this clip you can see the athlete get two red lights for depth and hear the commentators lament that Semenenko didn’t quite get the world record. However, that decision was overturned by the jury and the IPF granted him the world record at 445.5 kilograms, which is now listed on the IPF’s official list of records on their website.
We believe this squat broke the man’s previous world record of 432 kilograms (952.4 pounds) from this year’s World Games, which took place in Poland in July. You can watch all three of his lifts here: the 432kg squat, 280kg bench, and 330kg deadlift.
This 432kg squat was the second heaviest from all weight classes at the World Games, second only to a 432.5kg squat from superheavyweight Oleksiy Rokochiy.
Semenenko’s performance at IPF Worlds last week isn’t getting quite as much attention as some other lifts made at the event, but we think it’s one of the most impressive of all time.
Featured image via @semenenko_dmytro on Instagram.
