Yesterday, we got to see the conclusion of this year’s women’s -63kg weight class at the 2018 IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships.
Over the last two months, the anticipation for this weight class’s showdown had grown to epic proportions. One athlete in particular who’s been responsible for a fair share of this year’s hype was Jen Thompson. After all, she did just bench press (single lift) a 144kg (317.5 lb) world record less than a month ago.
After Thompson’s win yesterday she’s added another accolade to her very very long powerlifting resume. In addition to holding off second place finisher and USA teammate Samantha Calhoun by a nail biting 3.5kg, Thompson also set a new world record (full meet) for the bench press with a monstrous 142.5kg (314 lb) press.
Check out the picture perfect bench press below.
In one of the IPF’s Instagram stories they wrote that Thompson had, “defied all odds” to seal her first place, and we’d have to agree with that statement.
For the squat, Thompson finished with a 155kg (341 lb) second attempt, which is very impressive, but landed her in 10th place after the squats. This put Thompson 28.5kg behind first place Maria Htee who crushed a new world record hitting a very strong 183.5kg (404 lb) third attempt squat.
The bench press is Thompson’s strongest lift, so going into the bench attempts, Thompson knew she had to make up ground. After her 142.5kg (314 lb) bench world record (which was 35kg over the second highest bench), Thompson had leveled the playing field and moved into first place by 6kg.
Going into deadlift, Htee and Thompson were close, but Calhoun knew this was her strongest event, and that she was still in the hunt. Thompson opened with 170kg (374 lbs), while Htee pulled 185kg (407 lbs), and Calhoun hit a huge 202.5kg (446 lb).
For their second deadlift attempts, Htee hit 190kg (418 lb) and Thompson jumped up to 202.5kg (446 lbs). Unfortunately, they both missed their third deadlift attempts. This is when Calhoun shined, and she hit a big 215kg (473 lb) second deadlift passing Htee by a few kg. Then, Calhoun called for 221.5kg (488 lb) on the bar, which would earn her a new world record, but still left her just short of Thompson’s total.
Fortunately for Thompson, her strategic second deadlift jump to 202.5kg (446 lb) and her monstrous world record bench press were enough to hold off Calhoun’s epic deadlift strength.
Thompson ended up finishing in first with a 492.5kg (1,085 lb) total, Calhoun came in a close second with 489kg (1,078 lbs), and Htee took third with 481kg (1,060 lbs).
Feature image from the @theipf Instagram page.