It’s one of the most eventful times of the year for the sport of powerlifting, as some of the world’s top athletes get ready to compete in the 2017 IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships, which begin the 14th and go through the 25th.
Luckily, this year there’s a stream of the coverage, and it can be found here.
In past years, there hasn’t always been a live stream, so it’s nice to see the IPF providing content over the next ten days for us all to watch throughout our workdays. Keep in mind, the Championships are being held in Minsk, Belarus, so account for timezone differences. Minsk is seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so adjust your timezone viewing accordingly.
If you’re looking for a specific weight class to watch, or an athlete, then see the attached link below to download the full schedule of events.
This competition hosts the best athletes in every weight class and age demographic. Remember, “classic” for the IPF means raw (belts, knee sleeves, and wrist wraps). Check out the hyped up trailer for this year’s Championships below.
In the last two weeks, we’ve seen a handful of powerlifting’s best athletes share final lifts from their peaking stages on social media, which is only building the anticipation of this year’s championships. One of the bigger showdowns (literally) we recently reported on is the always exciting 120kg+ men’s squat battle between USA’s Ray Williams and Nauru’s Jezza Uepa.
Williams and Uepa both claimed world records last year, and have since posted 1,000+ lb raw squats in training over the last two weeks. Who will further powerlifting’s raw squat world record this year? It’s tough to say.
Yet, this is only one of the epic performances/battles you can expect to see over the course of the next ten days. There are multiple athletes poised to break world records, so stay tuned.
Feature image screenshot from International Powerlifting Federation IPF YouTube channel.
