This is a great time of year to reflect on the year just gone. The IPF finally returned to full force and a more normal calendar after the vagaries of covid and we saw some phenomenal lifting.
The standard of lifting continues to rise, especially amongst the women. Jessica Buettner of Canada was forced to pull the biggest raw deadlift in IPF history – 261.5kg – to beat rising star, Agata Sitko on bodyweight for the Classic World Title. Lya Bavoil had redemption at the UK Arnold, taking the 63kg squat, deadlift and total world records along with the highest GL points of any raw woman in the IPF at 122.26.
Every classic squat world record in the women’s classes has been broken in the last 18 months compared to only three in the men’s classes. The women started from further back in this historically male dominated sport, but they have hit their stride and they are accelerating.
On the equipped side, the Polish powerhouse, Agata Sitko, at 20 years of age, has had an astonishing year. It seems like she competes nearly every weekend and she is collecting scalps. She came into 2022 the open equipped world champion, only narrowly missed the open classic world title, took the gold medal at The World Games, the junior classic world title, the open classic European title – oh and she won the equipped bench bash at the UK Arnold too. No longer a rising star, I think Agata Sitko has fully risen – she has the highest female equipped GL points in the IPF and she will soon need to look around for more worlds to conquer.
Almost as prolific, the German phenom, Sonja Stefanie Krueger, in her final year as a junior, scooped the European open equipped title, the world junior equipped world title and, the cherry on the cake, she took the open equipped world title in Viborg last month. An incredible performance that included a 280.5kg squat world record.
At the same competition, Hildeborg Hugdal of Norway put up the biggest female (3-lift) bench in the IPF – a massive 230kg.
While there were no all time records from the men this year, they certainly weren’t taking a rest. We saw nail biting finishes on huge deadlift world records at classic worlds, most notably from Asein Enahoro HUN (362.5kg) and Chance Mitchell USA (373.5kg).
On the equipped side, 2022 was the year of the squat for Sen Yang TPE. He had squatted 237.5kg at Stavanger last year but forfeited the world record when he couldn’t maintain his grip on deadlift and didn’t manage to get a total. However, he absolutely smoked 440kg at The World Games in Alabama and moved it on another half a kilo in Viborg.
Ukraine’s Kostiantyn Musiienko hit the highest equipped GL points in IPF history with 115.54 at World Equipped and he smashed the bench world record with a monster 351.5kg press – an impressive deadlift, let alone bench. In the same class, Gregory Johnson, ISV, pulled 371.5kg for the deadlift world record and gave us the most emotional celebration we’ve ever seen.
2022 has given us some incredible lifting but 2023 promises even more. Sheffield (finally!) looms large in March, bringing together some of the best raw lifters in the world to duke it out for a massive prize pot. Classic Worlds in June is in Malta and promises to be glorious, both in terms of location and lifting. The juniors will be in Romania, the masters in Mongolia and then finally, Vilnius, Lithuania for the equipped. There may be glory. There may be heartache. But there will definitely be some of the best lifting you will ever see. Guaranteed.