IWF Youth World Championships successfully concluded
The 2019 edition of the IWF Youth World Championships finished with double success for the host nation USA, showing the strength of next-generation US Weightlifting. This is the first time that both the male and female teams won the team classification.
However, it was not only on the platform that Las Vegas proved to be the lucky charm for Team USA: the already experienced squad under the leadership of Ursula Papandrea, President and Phil Andrews, CEO made sure all the 175 athletes representing 42 countries went home satisfied and with a feeling of a successful event.
Las Vegas 2019 marked several “firsts”. This is the first time that USA Weightlifting simultaneously carried out three major events under one roof. The YWC, although the highest ranked, was almost dwarfed in terms of turnout against the Las Vegas International Open and the USA University & U25 Competitions, which rounded up the participants to nearly 800 lifters and took place on three platforms at the same time.
The favourable results of the IWF’s serious Anti-Doping program and Education, providing a level playing field for all, were clearly visible at this Championships: the medals were shared by 26 countries of which 15 took gold. Countries with little or no previous medal record stepped forward with their youth lifters, such as Belgium, Brazil, Mongolia, Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia (!)
On this occasion, IWF tested an exceptionally high ratio of athletes (65%).
Among the technical innovations introduced at this Youth World Championships the most significant was the Video Playback Technology (VPT). The teams quickly picked up the new possibility and several challenges were requested.
The winners of the Best Lifters Trophies of IWF were FAYZULLAEVA Kumushkhon, who set two world records in the women’s 64kg bodyweight category and TAISUYEV Saikhan, for his outstanding performance in the men’s 67kg category, and Clean and Jerk world record.
In total, 9 new world records were set in the course of the 2019 Youth World Championships.
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