The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea’s Om Yun-Chol (-55kg) has kicked off the 2019 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Weightlifting Championships on top with a massive 166kg clean & jerk. This lift was not only triple his bodyweight, but it was also good enough to break his own clean & jerk world record and earn him gold. On top of earning gold in the clean & jerk and setting a new world record, Yun-Chol also snatched 128kg for a gold medal and ended up breaking the -55kg weight class total world record with a monstrous 294kg. Needless to say, Yun-Chol is your 2019 World Weightlifting Championships -55kg champion.
He beat his previous world record clean & jerk by 4kg. At the 2018 IWF World Weightlifting Championships, he clean & jerked 162kg to earn a gold medal. Before the IWF introduced new weight classes, Yun-Chol was a three-time world champion in the -56kg category. Between the -56kg and the -55kg weight classes, he has earned five IWF World Weightlifting Championships gold medals.
The world standard in the men’s -55kg category was 293kg, and after Yun-Chol’s latest lift he is now the newest and current world record total holder!
His clean & jerk was 20kg over the second place finisher in the men’s -55kg group A, Son Igor. Igor finished with a 120kg snatch and a 146kg clean & jerk for a 266kg total. Yun-chol’s total was 29kg over Igor’s.
Check out Yun-chol’s world record lift below:
Here are the final results from the men’s 55kg Group A:
- First place: Om Yun-chol (294kg total)
- Second place: Igor Son (266kg total)
- Third place: Mansour Abdulrahim Al Saleem (265kg total)
Yun-Chol is also a two-time Olympic medalist, earning a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympic Games and a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The 2019 World Weightlifting Championships are clearly well underway in a big way in Pattaya, Thailand, and we have a feeling that this is only the beginning for the world record setting lifts we’re about to see.
To keep up with the action from September 18th through September 28th, read up on our ultimate preview and learn how to watch.
Featured image from @iwfnet Instagram page.
