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León, Day 6: The man with the golden smile strikes again for Kazakhstan, and Nicholson claims USA’s fourth win

Yedige Yemberdi is a name to remember. If his numbers are remarkable – four wins in four international competitions and 11 good clean and jerks in a row – his stage presence is even more impressive. For the second straight year 19-year-old Yemberdi, from Kazakhstan, overcame a big deficit in snatch to claim the junior world title. He has also won world and continental youth gold since his first appearance in 2022. Yedige Yemberdi (KAZ) Last November in Guadalajara, Mexico, Yemberdi thumped his chest after every lift and led the applause himself as he moved from ninth place at halfway to the top of the podium at 81kg. The crowd loved it. Today at the 2024 World Juniors in León, Spain, Yemberdi did it again at 89kg. He was fifth in snatch, 9kg behind the leader Diyorbek Ermatov from Uzbekistan. He smiled every time he came on the platform, encouraged the audience to make some noise, and finished with six good lifts. “It comes from my mother,” he explained. “She taught me that you can beat the stress with a smile, and that’s what I do. If you win you have to do it with a smile, and you should do it if you lose too. “After the snatch I was not sure I would win, but I made myself believe it. My coach came here at his own expense and I would have been ashamed if I didn’t win for him. I persuaded myself that I would do it, and I did – with a smile.”   Jokser Albornoz (COL) After his first clean and jerk, Yemberdi was 8kg behind Ermatov, who then failed with his last two attempts and finished fourth on total. After the next one the deficit was 3kg behind new leader Jokser Albornoz from Colombia, who had finished on 158-192-350. Alireza Abbaspoor from Iran was next out. He made his final attempt for 156-195-351 to take the lead, and Yemberdi needed 199kg to win. He came out smiling, roused the audience again, made the lift comfortably and posed for the cameras before he left the platform. Yemberdi finished on 153-199-352. “What a presence! He’s amazing - we need more athletes like this in weightlifting,” said the IWF Athletes Commission chair Forrester Osei, who has succeeded in rousing  the audience as an enthusiastic speaker at several sessions here. Alireza Abbaspoor (IRI) The only clean and jerk Yemberdi has missed in his international career was the first one, at the 2022 World Youth Championships in the other León, in Mexico. He has had only three no-lifts in 24 attempts. Yemberdi weighed in light at 86kg and looks forward to dropping to 81kg for his first senior outing at the World Championships in Bahrain in December. “It will be easy to lose five kilos,” he said. “I’ve had to eat two lunches and two dinners to bulk up for this weight class and I look forward to not doing it any more.” The United States had its fourth winner of the Championships in the women’s 76kg evening session when Ella Nicholson added the junior world title to last year’s youth gold with an impressive 244kg total. Ella Nicholson (USA) Heesoo Jeon from Korea claimed the youth world record in total in second place, Anna Amroyan from Armenia was third, and Great Britain was on the podium when Isabella Brown took snatch bronze. “That was my best total (by 2kg), best competition, best preparation and first senior American record,” said Nicholson, who won by a wide margin on 113-131-244. “Now I’m looking forward to the senior Worlds.” Heesoo Jeon (KOR) Nicholson, 18, made a great save in her first attempt and went on to beat Mattie Rogers’ national snatch record.   Heesoo, 17, would have had three youth world records rather than one if she had made her final attempt on 134kg. She finished 102-130-232, ahead of Amroyan on 100-128-228. Anna Amroyan (ARM) Brown was 1kg short of Sarah Davies’ British snatch record as she improved her best numbers by 4kg in snatch and 1kg in clean and jerk, finishing fifth on 101-121-122. By Brian

IWF/ITA Clean Sport Seminar: “Don’t be negligent, remain vigilant and get informed!”

Around 75 participants in the IWF World Junior Championships, including athletes and support personnel, gathered this morning in the competition venue in Leon (ESP) for the IWF/ITA Clean Sport Seminar, an important educational tool to disseminate information on IWF’s Anti-Doping programme. This initiative normally takes place at IWF events and is lectured by an ITA (International Testing Agency) Ambassador – this time, the presenter was Thais Cevada, from Brazil, a former international-level athlete in gymnastics. The Seminar was opened by the IWF President Mohammed Jalood, who underlined the efforts our International Federation is allocating into this fundamental matter. “The results are paying off, as in most of our events there are presently no positive cases. We are proud to say that we had no adverse tests also at the recent Paris 2024 Olympic Games!” stated Mr Jalood. “This proves that everyone is complying with the rules and that our Sport is clean and fair. These positive results will certainly count towards our wish to raise the bodyweight categories in future editions of the Olympic Games,” the IWF President concluded. IWF President Mohammed Jalood Thais Cevada then briefed the attendees on several aspects of the anti-doping (AD) strategy, namely the types of AD violations, the importance of checking any sort of medicines entering into the athlete’s body, the precautions when eventually taking supplements, and the complete procedure on reporting AD violations. “Being negligent in this field can lead to dramatic consequences to the athletes. Be vigilant, get informed, and don’t incur in any behaviour that can then cost several years of sanction,” explained Cevada, in both English and Spanish to the participants (among them, Forrester Osei, Chair of the IWF Athletes Commission). Thais Cevada, lecturing the seminar At the end of the Seminar, all participants received an “I Lift Clean” t-shirt, and were invited to pass by the educational booth that will be available at the entry of the competition venue for the next couple of days. It will be an additional opportunity for athletes and support personnel to get information on this topic, and to further learn by replying to some quizzes and taking part in educational games. IWF

León, Day 5: Simoneau stars for Canada at ‘perfect weight’ – and Korea’s Dae Hee hits 200kg mark

Charlotte Simoneau gave the perfect performance at her perfect weight to claim Canada’s first title of the 2024 World Junior Championships in León, Spain. Korea also had its first gold when Dae Hee Kwon ended the men’s 81kg evening session with a huge clean and jerk of 200kg. Both winners made all six lifts. At last year’s World Juniors in Guadalajara, Mexico, Simoneau competed at 64kg, having moved up from 59kg the year before. Now she is up again to 71kg and feeling better than ever. Charlotte Simoneau (CAN) “This is my perfect weight,” she said after a six-from-six 110-130-240 that left her clear of the field. “I have more confidence in my body, I’m not having to cut weight, I feel stronger and I’m not getting any injuries.” Her confidence has increased along with her weight. At last year’s World Juniors, Simoneau and her coach Yvan Darsigny opted for the less-pressurised B Group. She finished second regardless. Simoneau is now looking forward to her first senior World Championships in Bahrain in December. “My preparation for this was as good as it gets. I was making 111-131 in training. I’ll be happy with 112-132 in Bahrain.” Simoneau, 19, is studying natural science and works in her grandparents’ flower shop at weekends – when she is not competing. She trains five to eight times a week. When told that Mohammed Jalood, the IWF President who presented the medals, had said she could be “Canada’s next Maude Charron”, Simoneau laughed and said, “Let’s see. I will try to do my best.” Damary Nazareno (ECU) Damary Nazareno from Ecuador finished second on her international debut, making 106-125-231. Simoneau and Nazareno were the only two of 13 A Group lifters to make their final attempt. Janette Ylisoini from Finland would have moved up to second if she had made 128kg. She failed but was happy with a bronze medal with her four-from-six 104-124-228. Ylisoini had not made more than one snatch in any of her past five competitions. “I failed with my first two in Phuket (at the IWF World Cup in April) so it was nice to start with good lifts, it gave me more confidence,” said Ylisoini, 18, who equalled her best competition total. It was a second world bronze medal in four weeks for Ylisoini, a high school student who was third in the sub-junior Powerlifting World Championships in Malta last month. “I like both sports,” she said. Janette Ylisoini (FIN) Maria Mena from Colombia was second in snatch, 1kg behind Simoneau, but bombed out in clean and jerk. The B Group lifter Chen Hsin-Ning from Chinese Taipei took clean and jerk silver on 126kg and finished seventh on total. In the men’s event Mohamed Elsayed, the African senior champion, led by 5kg at halfway and after five good lifts he was ahead by the same margin. But 18-year-old Dae Hee had two attempts to come and made the first at 196kg to secure victory. Dae Hee Kwon (KOR) He then finished off with 200kg, which was within 8kg of Karlos Nasar’s junior world record. Dae Hee finished 156-200-356, Elsayed made 161-189-350, and third-placed Yerasyl Saulebekov from Kazakhstan made 154-190-344. Mohamed Elsayed (EGY) Dae Hee’s only previous international appearance was at the World Youth Championships last year, when he was second with a total of 316kg – 40kg lower than today. The man who beat him then, Levan Ochigava from Georgia, was sixth today. Ochigava’s team-mate Goga Jajvani finished fourth and took clean and jerk bronze after an impressive save on his final attempt at 186kg. Yerasyl Saulebekov (KAZ) There was an even more impressive rescue act in the B Group when the American Hutton Boles had his feet over the edge of the platform after losing control on his third snatch, but recovered and stepped backwards to make a personal record 150kg. By Brian

León, Day 4: Segura hits new heights for  Colombia, another gold for USA – and Saudi teen breaks three youth world records

Ingrid Segura put on a show to claim Colombia’s first title on the fourth day of the 2024 World Junior Championships in León, Spain. The day’s other winner was Caden Cahoy from the United States in the men’s 73kg, in which a 16-year-old from Saudi Arabia claimed a youth world held by the Olympic champion Rizki Juniansyah, then set two more world records. Ingrid Segura (COL) Segura reversed the women’s 64kg placings at the Pan American Junior Championships in Palmira, Colombia three months ago, where she had finished second to last year’s junior world champion Katie Estep from the United States. She had failed with her last two attempts in Palmira but this time Segura made six from six. Segura and Estep had been neck and neck until Estep missed her final attempt after five good lifts. Segura then pulled 9kg clear with a career-best 130kg clean and jerk to finish 101-130-231. “This my first Junior World Championships and I worked hard for it,” said Segura. “We had some very good training camps after the Pan American Championships and this is the result. I had a bad day in Palmira, this was the best. In training I had never made more than 127, so 130 was special.” Katharine Estep (USA) Estep finished 100-122-222, a personal-record total in what, she said, was the strongest competition she has lifted in. “The numbers were high but I wasn’t so surprised. I’ve learned in weightlifting that you kinda have to expect the unexpected. “I’m happy with my performance. I’m a bit under the weather, I’m losing my voice. I know there’s a virus going around but I’m not sure it’s that.” Estep, who also won world gold as a youth, is hoping to lift at the senior World Championships in Bahrain in December. “But I’m in the final year of college and my finals are around that time. I have to talk to my professors. I want to be a doctor.” Jessica Palacios (ECU) Jessica Palacios from Ecuador was third, as she had been in Palmira. Palacios, younger sister of the Paris Olympic medallists Neisi Dajomes and Angie Palacios, failed with her final two attempts and made 98-120-218. Estep’s team-mate Sophie Shaft was a contender until she missed two clean and jerks. Shaft made 97-120-217. Claudia Rengifo from Venezuela was fifth, so the first five places were filled by women from the Americas. Caden Cahoy (USA) Team USA strengthened its place at the top of the medals table when Caden Cahoy took the 73kg, his team’s third title of the Championships. Cahoy started after everybody else had finished in clean and jerk. He failed with his first attempt at 180kg but there was no sign of nerves on the next one, which he made. Cahoy, the Pan American junior champion, then failed at 186kg in going for a personal record. Ionut Donose (ROU) Ionut Donose from Romania made six-from-six for 149-174-323, taking snatch gold and finishing second on total. Mohammed Alzintani from Libya had two chances to overtake Donose but failed both times on 178kg and finished third. He suffered an injury on his final attempt and had his arm in a sling for the medal ceremony. Mohammed Alzintani (LBA) Mohammed Al Marzouq from Saudi Arabia, who will be 17 on Wednesday, set three youth world records in his first four lifts, two in snatch and one on total. If he had made either of his final attempts he would have had clean and jerk too. Mohammed Al Marzouq (KSA) His second snatch of 141kg bettered the youth mark held by Juniansyah. Al Marzouq finished 144-166-310, taking the total record from Yedige Yemberdi of Kazakhstan. By Brian

León, Day 3: Tran and Ulrey edge ahead to give Vietnam and USA second golds

United States went to the top of the medals table a third of the way through the World Junior Championships when Miranda Ulrey won a desperately close women’s 59kg contest. Team USA has two golds and one silver on total after three days of action in León, Spain. Vietnam joined the Philippines in equal second place when Tran Minh Tri made his final lift to win a high-quality 67kg session. Ulrey, who will be 20 on Monday, had two lifts to come when everybody else had finished. She edged ahead of Thanaporn Saetia from Thailand at the first attempt on 117kg, an American record, to claim her second major title in four months. She won Pan American gold in June. Miranda Ulrey (USA) Ulrey failed with a final attempt at 121kg and finished on 93-117-210, which was 1kg lower than her Pan American total. Saetia, who had led by 3kg at halfway, was second on 96-113-209 and Nigora Abdullaeva from Uzbekistan was third on 93-115-208. Fourth-placed Maria Olalla from Spain earned the biggest cheer of the Championships so far when she made her final attempt at 113kg to claim clean and jerk bronze. Higa Sei from Japan dropped to seventh after standing third in snatch. Thanaporn Saetia (THA) “We’ve put in a lot of work on movement and positioning since last year’s Junior Worlds (where she was fourth), so it’s nice to see it pay off like this,” said Ulrey. “It involved a whole lot of squatting. I love back squats but I’d rather do anything other than front squats.” By “we”, Ulrey meant herself and coach Kyle Fields, who also coaches the 71kg A Group lifter Nicole Caamano. “Miranda is very, very strong,” said Fields. “She showed it a couple of weeks ago when she back-squatted 185. It’s all about how she can apply that strength efficiently.” Ulrey might have had a sweep of golds. She snatched 97kg to overtake Saetia – youth world champion at 64kg last year - but the decision was overturned on review by the jury for bending and extending. The men’s 67kg contest featured junior champions from Asia, Europe and the Americas. Vietnam’s efforts in the lighter men’s events in the first two days included gold and a youth world record for K Duong at 55kg, but also two bombouts when Do Tu Tung and Duong Tuan Tiet jointly had nine no-lifts. Tran Minh Tri (VIE) Tran lifted confidently from the start and made five good lifts in his 142-171-313. Kaan Kahriman from Turkey made all six in second place on 143-169-312. Both men are reigning continental junior champions. “That was the strongest competition I have been in,” said Kahriman, who won silver medals at youth and junior World Championships in 2021 and 2022. “It was my best competition total, I’m pleased with that. But I know I can do more.” The Pan American junior champion, Fabian Marquez from Venezuela, had a bad day in seventh place. Daniel Caicedo from Colombia, who was a place behind Marquez in June, improved his best total by 11kg and claimed clean and jerk bronze, but he finished fourth behind his younger team-mate Sebastian Olivares. Competing overseas for the first time, 19-year-old Olivares made 139-165-304. Kaan Kahriman (TUR) Tran and Kahriman are due to renew rivalry at the senior World Championships in Bahrain in December, when they will face strong opposition from China and PRK. Two teenagers from Belarus, competing as Individual Neutral Athletes, showed potential at their first international competition. Artur Yakushau made five of his six attempts to top the 67kg B Group on 128-158-286, and Katsiaryna Tsimashenka recovered well after missing her first two snatch attempts. She finished fifth behind Ulrey on 92-110-202. By Brian

Hampton Morris: Olympic medallist, world champion and… loader!

After his Olympic medal this summer in Paris, he could have skipped the IWF World Junior Championships in Leon (ESP). He didn’t. He came and was world champion. Yesterday, on the second day of the event. Today, he could have enjoyed a deserved tour of the historical and beautiful Spanish town, and taste the local food, as he told the media after his gold medal. He didn’t. He was this morning again in the field of play, but on the “other side” of the competition. As a loader, during the first B session of the day, the men’s 67kg. He is Hampton Morris! “As someone who loves the Sport so much, I think it’s important to participate more in the community.  Not just as a lifter, or an athlete… At home, at our Nationals, I did the same after I competed. It is however my first time at an international meet,” confesses the US star. “Loading is one of the hardest parts of our competitions. Loaders really do a lot of work – I think being here is a kind of recognition for the importance of their job”. With some sweat droplets on his forehead, the Olympic bronze medallist in the 61kg recognises: “Running back and forth, and jumping on and off the stage is perhaps the most challenging part of it…” On the "other side" of the competition Reflecting on his remarkable achievement – he was the first US male lifter on an Olympic podium since the 1980s – Morris obviously keeps vivid memories from that afternoon, on August 7:  “I am really proud with what I managed to accomplish in Paris… When I flew home, the reception there was great. A lot of friends and family were able to come to Paris and support me, but returning to the US I was amazed at the number of people celebrating with me”. Morris was however quite fast in coming back to his normal routine: “After Paris, my life hasn’t changed much. I was basically back to training. Maybe I talk a bit more with the media now… It’s fun!” At 20, it was the biggest highlight in a career that includes so far one youth and two junior world titles, three Pan-American wins, and a gold medal in clean & jerk at the 2023 IWF World Championships in Riyadh (KSA). Moreover, he is the current 61kg World Record holder in the clean & jerk (176kg, both senior and junior) and C&J (156kg) and Total (276kg) in the youth charts. After his win in Leon In Leon, he was the favourite to win, and he didn’t disappoint. His performance was below his expectations. The US champion got the gold in 126-165-291 and even had a WR attempt in the C&J, at 177kg.  He was unsuccessful. “I know I can do it. I just wasn’t ‘there’ yesterday…” The next available opportunity to make it could be the IWF World Championships next December in Manama (BRN). “We are still deciding if we go to the Senior Worlds. It would be a very funny trip to go, but it would also mean a lot of travel this year…” Celebrating his bronze medal at the Olympics Morris made in Leon his last junior appearance, but despite his young age, he is the lifter to watch in the US men’s team. “I don’t feel much pressure for being perhaps a reference in the US team. I just feel that when I compete I need to go there and give my best. That’s my only pressure: myself”. And he adds: “In the US, things are progressing well. I feel that I am a part of that progression. It’s really exciting to see where our country is going in the years to come, especially with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles”. Four years is an eternity in an athlete’s life, but Morris is not afraid to look ahead: “The first goal is to try making the team for LA. I am sure we will have a great team there”. On a personal level, his quickest reply during the entire interview comes when asked if he feels there is room for improvement. “Definitively!” By Pedro AdregaIWF