Earlier today, another member of Team USA walked away with medals at the 2018 IWF Junior World Championships, and this athlete is none other than Team Alpha Barbell athlete Harrison Maurus. Maurus earned a gold medal in the clean & jerk and a bronze medal for total.
Since moving up a weight class from 77kg to 85kg following the 2017 IWF World Championships, Maurus has already added multiple accolades as an 85kg weightlifter to his impressive weightlifting resume.
Maurus started his competition with a tough day in the snatch going ⅓ finishing with a 151kg opener, and missing both his second and third attempts at 155kg (which would have been 1kg behind his best competition snatch hit at the Senior Pan Am Championships).
Fortunately with a strong mindset and great coaching, Maurus was able to overcome the tough start to the day and went 3/3 in the clean & jerk. He opened with an easy 190kg, then hit 194kg for a second. For his third attempt, Maurus called for 198kg on the bar, which would earn him a gold medal in the clean & jerk and a 349kg total for a third place bronze finish.
Currently, the IWF Junior World Championships are taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and go through July 14th. In case you’ve missed any of our previous coverage of this year’s IWF Junior World Championships and want to read more, we’ve linked those articles below!
As of right now, Maurus owns two 85kg Junior American weightlifting records in the clean & jerk (200kg) and total (355kg). While he may not have broken any new records at this competition, it’s exciting to watch him gain comfort and excel as an international 85kg weightlifter, and bring home some hardware for Team USA.
Feature image from @teamalphasc Instagram page.
