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 Oliver