IWF Youth World Championships

Yeison Lopez (COL) Wins Gold and Sets New World Records At Youth Worlds

Yeison Lopez (COL) Wins Gold and Sets New World Records At Youth Worlds

17-year-old Yeison Lopez breaks his own world records on the way to winning gold at the 2016 IWF Youth World Championships.

Oct 24, 2016 by Matthew Bergeron
Yeison Lopez (COL) Wins Gold and Sets New World Records At Youth Worlds
When you say "men's 77kg" to someone in the weightlifting or CrossFit community, most people will instinctively yell "LU" in response, but you might want to remember a new name: Yeison Lopez of Colombia. Why? Well to start, he broke his own Youth World records in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total.

Competing in the 77kg class this past weekend at the 2016 Youth World Championships, Lopez broke his snatch record by 1kg on his second attempt with a 157kg lift. He then demolished it when he followed up with a 160kg snatch:

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Normally an athlete would run the clock down to the last few seconds when following himself. However, Lopez didn't wait nearly that long, taking his second attempt with nearly 90 seconds on the clock and his last snatch with over 40 seconds left. He repeated the same tempo in the clean and jerk and broke his own record again by 1kg with a 191kg lift before missing his last attempt at 195kg:

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His previous Youth World record total was 346kg, and his new best is 351kg. This new total would have put him in fifth place at the Olympic Games in Rio, and sixth at the World Championships in Houston. We may not have to wait very long for Lopez to make some waves in the seniors division.

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