Julio Mayora of Venezuela competes in the -73kg weight class and in a recent training session, he got very close to tying China’s Shi Zhiyong‘s world record snatch. The 23-year-old Mayora started his professional career at the age of 17 in the -56kg class and had a big silver medal finish at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) 2013 Youth World Championships.
He has since progressively moved up in weight class, competing at -62kg, -67kg, -69kg, and now -73kg.
Before we dive into Mayora’s successful track record at elite level competition, take a look at the 165kg/364lb snatch that he recently hit in training — a lift only 3kg shy of matching Shi Zhiyong‘s 168kg/370lb current world record.
[Related: Watch Shi Zhiyong set two new world records at the 2019 IWF World Cup.]
Mayora zones in during a decently long set up, and while it’s shaky at first he manages to stabilize it for a clean lift.
The Venezuelan, like many weightlifters, was training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games which would have taken place three months from now had they not been postponed until 2021. Mayora, though disappointed, intends to use that additional year of training to make sure he can lift a total that will ensure his place on the podium.
The current world record clean and jerk in the -73kg class is 198kg/436.5lb, also held by Shi Zhiyong. Mayora is aiming to be in range for that record as well. A few months ago in training, he shared a 200kg/441lb block clean and jerk and it looked very smooth.
Mayora won the 2019 Pan American Games, the 2018 Pan American Championships (-69kg), the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games (-69kg), and took home bronze at the 2018 World Championships (-69kg).
He’s still early in his career and has shown a steady progression of consistently better results over time at bigger competitions. Mayora’s training is paying dividends in his biggest lifts; come the Tokyo Olympic Games, he may give Shi a run for his money.
Feature image from Julio Mayora’s Instagram page: @julio_mayora