Ukrainian powerlifter Kostiantyn Musiienko isn’t crazy famous, but he’s responsible for some of the most impressive records we’ve seen in the equipped division.
A prodigious bench press specialist, Musiienko is making waves this week after hitting a monster bench press that completely and utterly annihilated the previous world record in his -83kg weight class.
A few things to point out before bearing witness. This guy is a junior athlete, born in the year 1997. As an athlete of 20 or 21 years old, he’s got a good two years left as a junior before aging out as a 23-year-old. (Yeah, we’re pretty good at math.)
A second thing to note: before the lad stepped up to the bench, the IPF’s world record for equipped lifters was 275 kilograms (606.3 pounds). That was both the open and the junior record, since Musiienko himself lifted that weight back in August 2017.
This week he lifted 292.5 kilograms (644.8 pounds). He broke his world record by 17.5 damn kilograms (38.6lb). Watch it go down (and then go up) in this video from the IPF’s 2018 World Sub-Junior & Junior Equipped Powerlifting Championships, currently underway in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
(If mobile users are having trouble viewing this clip, click here to see it on Instagram.)
Is that one of the slowest descents you’ve seen on a world record lift or what?
You can watch Musiienko’s last record, now obliterated in a smoking crater, in this tweet the IPF posted about a year ago .
World OPEN Record Bench Press with 275 kg by Kostiantyn Musiienko UKR in 83 kg JUNIOR class pic.twitter.com/hLTkh1qGMl
— IPF_tweet (@IPF_tweet) August 31, 2017
While he doesn’t hold the open world record for the heaviest lift in a bench press-only meet, his junior record is less than ten kilograms away from Askar Shokhanov’s 311-kilogram record. Watch Musiienko’s 302.5-kilo record from this past April below.
Funnily enough, this one was also made in Potchefstroom.
World Junior Record Bench Press with 302.5 kg by
Kostiantyn Musiienko UKR in 83 kg class pic.twitter.com/iF7NyiHHUh— IPF_tweet (@IPF_tweet) April 28, 2018
Remember, this dude has well over a year left as a junior athlete. We won’t be surprised if he adds to his Open world record before he ages out.
Featured image via @theipf on Instagram.