Yesterday, we saw the final athletes take the stage for the junior powerlifters at the 2018 IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships.
British powerlifter Luke Richardson could best be described as young titan on the platform. Yesterday afternoon, Richardson went head-to-head in the junior men’s 120kg+ weight class with a few of the world’s best young powerlifters, which included the likes of legendary squatter Joseph Pena.
Both of these athletes put on amazing shows, but Richardson ended up coming out on top as the 2018 Junior 120kg+ Champion. Richardson’s final deadlift could be described as the icing on the cake to a very strong 8/9 performance. On his second deadlift attempt, Richardson called for 370kg (814 lbs) on the bar, which would earn him a junior world record and smash the previously held feat by 14.5kg.
Richardson closely missed his third deadlift world record attempt at 377.5kg (832 lbs). And on that note, it appeared as though he lost his balance at the top of the movement and it wasn’t a strength related miss. In the past, he’s pulled similar weight to his final attempt, so we’re pretty confident he’ll be back to crush this lift in the near future.
Fortunately for Richardson, his second pull was more than enough to seal him the first place finish (40kg over Pena’s second place), along with earning him a junior world record total of 960kg (2,116 lbs).
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In the squat, Richardson went 3/3 and finished his attempts with a very strong 380kg (836 lb) squat, which tops his best squat from prep and his previous competition best. Then for the bench press, Richardson cruised through his attempts going 3/3 and finishing with a very solid 210kg (463 lb) press.
At 20 years old, Richardson has already built a strong resume of international powerlifting accolades and still has a long career ahead of him. With this last performance, it’s going to be exciting to watch him creep closer and closer to the 1,000kg total feat.
Related: Romanian Deadlift Muscles Worked
Feature image from @theipf Instagram page.
