Pavlo Nakonechnyy, a Ukrainain powerlifter born in 1997, has just broken the junior world record for the raw deadlift.
It’s one of many awe-inspiring performances we’ve seen come out of the IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships that are currently underway in Belarus, but it’s astonishing in its own right. We’re not totally sure of his birthday, but Nakonechnyy could still be a teenager, yet he’s managed to deadlift 355.5 kilograms (783.7 pounds) raw at a bodyweight of 157.6 kilograms, or 347.4 pounds. The guy is simply enormous and has the strength to match. Check out the footage below.
This deadlift beat the previous junior world record by just 500 grams, which was set by Australian Cameron McKenzie in August of last year.
During the meet, Nakonechnyy managed to squat 320 kilograms (705.5 pounds) and bench 205 kilograms (452 pounds) for a total of 880.5 kilograms (1,941 pounds). This total easily earned him first place, beating out second place finisher Luke Richardson by 15.5 kilograms.
You can view Nakonechnyy’s squat below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVpaM7IB5Ns
Again, this guy was born in 1997 — most deadlifters don’t peak until later in their careers, so there’s no telling what kind of records he’ll break as he matures as an athlete.
Other junior world records from the meet include a 200kg (441lb) squat from Lithuanian -53kg athlete Egidijus Valciukas, a 210kg (463lb) squat from Belarusian -59kg athlete Artsiom Savelyeu, and a 280.5kg (618.4lb) deadlift from American -74kg athlete Mason Cabney.
Right now, the IPF world record for the raw deadlift in all weight classes comes from Ray Williams, who pulled 392.5 kilograms (865.5lb) at 182kg (401lb) bodyweight earlier this year.
Williams, who became the first human to ever squat 1,000 pounds raw in IPF-style competition October last year, is eleven years older than Nakonechnyy, so there’s some ground to make up as far as training age goes, but we’re looking forward to seeing what comes next for the young Ukrainian.
Featured image via @theipf on Instagram.
