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World Junior Powerlifting Championships 2007
The competition was quite a step up from the European Championships, with in excess of three hundred lifters. The French organisers had clearly put much effort into planning the competition, and the stage with two large screens, displaying the results and the athlete created a good atmosphere.
Monday
The competition kicked off on Monday with two of Great Britain's U18 lifters. Chloe Lambeth opened the competition in the Women's 44kg class with some strong lifts, taking the squat bronze medal on bodyweight with 95kg. Chloe went on to press 40kg in the Bench Press, and rounded off with a strong pull of 112.5kg to take the deadlift bronze medal, and fourth overall. Chloe's total of 247.5kg was a good start to the team's championships and impressive considering she still has one more year as a Sub Junior. Steven Tyers followed Chloe on Monday afternoon in the Men's U18 56kg Class. Despite a mix up in the first day's organisation, which lead to a less than ideal warm-up for Steven, he produced some strong lifts, with 130kg in the squat, 90kg in the Bench Press and finishing with 182.5kg in the Deadlift for a 402.5kg total and 8th place. His attempt at 195kg for the deadlift Bronze medal was just out of reach, but again with one more year as a Sub Junior, he could be a real contender next year.
Wednesday
Wednesday saw the largest weight class, the under 75kg, with nineteen U18 lifters and fourteen U23 lifters. The U18 competition featured some very talented young lifters with two world records, Great Britain's two lifters Scott Sales and Shaun Doble did well to place 11th and 12th, respectively. After missing his opening lifts in the squat and bench press, Shaun showed great determination to come back and get a total of 482.5kg, with a 175kg squat, 100kg bench press and a 207.5kg deadlift. Scott lifted 170kg in the squat, 120kg on the bench press and pulled 215kg in the deadlift to total 505kg, and edge ahead of Shaun.
James White was representing Great Britain in the Junior 75kg class, after earning a Gold medal in the deadlift at the European Championships earlier in the year. James had made improvements on all three lifts in training and was looking to take home the gold medal in the deadlift and improve on his overall placing in his last year as a Junior. James comfortably made his opening two squats of 210kg and 220kg, however, after leaning forward, he wasn't able to recover himself on his last attempt of 230kg. Despite being disappointed with the outcome of the squat, James went on to get all three bench presses, finishing with 165kg. Next came the deadlift, his strongest lift, where he stood a real chance of taking home the gold and moving up the scoreboard. Unfortunately the warm up did not go as planned, and there was some concern when his last warm up of 250kg seemed pretty tough. However with less than five minutes to go, he was unable to change his opener of 267.5kg, already 22.5kg ahead of the next highest opener. James managed to stay with the pull, and ground it out for three white lights, but this proved to be his limit on the day and the second and third attempts at 275kg got stuck just above his knees, no matter how much he stuck out his tongue. Fortunately, James had done enough on his opening lift and he was still able to take away the Gold medal, and a very respectable 7th place overall.
Thursday
Thursday morning saw the last of the Great Britain U18 lifters, Jonathan Biggin, compete in the 82.5kg class. After squatting 230kg in his second attempt, Jonathan was disappointed to only manage his opening lifts of 150kg on the Bench Press and 240kg for the deadlift. However, his 8th place total was a great achievement given his inexperience with the supportive equipment, which will develop over the coming year.
In the
Afternoon, the first of our lifter's, Andy Ly, was set to compete
alongside Mark Gregory in the Junior 90kg class. There was some
apprehension, as Andy had injured his back in the build up to the
competition, and he was unsure what impact this would have on his
lifting. Things deteriorated when Mark first wrapped his knees, and was
forced to quickly rack 180kg after getting shooting pains in his shin.
Unfortunately it seems, the late decision to use flat soled footwear
hadn't given his body time to adjust. Still with tim
Both lifters came out of the squat with two lifts and were positioned welled inside the top ten going into the bench press. Andy's opening lift of 160kg flew up, and left him feeling confident in taking a jump up to 180kg for his second. Mark's opener of 175kg was also strong, and he enter 185kg for his second. In his second attempt, attempting to match his competition best, Andy let the bar drift too low down and he wasn't able to recover. Mark also faced a similar fate, as the bar drifted low, he pressed the bar over his face, only to recover the weight to lockout in an extension movement, although impressive, the bar had descended mid lift and the referees were having none of it; the red lights lit up. In the final round of the Bench Press, while Andy was unable to get any drive on the weight, Mark was able to correct his errors from the previous round and edge in front of Andy.
Going into
the deadlift, both Andy and Mark were firmly positioned to make the top
ten, with potentially
Saturday
On Saturday
Moving into
the Bench Press, a light opener had been agreed to ensure that he got on
the board. Ben opened at 200kg, pressing the weight very comfortably to
get three white lights. In the second round, the coaches agreed to a big
jump, to his previous opener at the European Juniors, 230kg. This would
move
In the overall rankings, this had moved Ben up two places into 5th position, and left him with a potential shot at an overall Bronze in the Deadlift. Ben's opening lift of 280kg was an easy opener and secured him the fifth place. Then there was a big jump to 315kg, to move into 4th place, and secure a medal on the deadlift. Again the lift looked comfortable, and after the American failed his final deadlift, a personal best, 327.5kg was loaded onto the bar to earn Ben the overall Bronze medal. The bar left the floor quickly, but drifted away from his legs, and unable to recover the bar, it fell away from him, forcing him to settle for a very respectable 4th place and a Bronze medal in the Deadlift.
Every lifter on the Great Britain team achieved a total and earned points for the team, with three lifters earning five medals between them. Many of the team still have many years as Juniors, so Great Britain should be able to put in even stronger performances in the future.
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Ben
Banks and Andy Ly were joined by two other lifters, Mark Gregory and
James White to form the four man team, representing Great Britain at the
World Junior Powerlifting Championships 2007, in La Garde, France. All
four lifters had progressed on from the European Championships in June
and were now more prepared to face an international stage. In addition
to the U23 team, Great Britain entered an U18 team in the World
Sub-Junior Championships, which was run together with the Junior
Championships. Overseeing the nine young lifters were Team Manager, John
Halfacre and Team Coaches, Paul Rees, Fred Mackenzie and Janine Murphy.
e
to change his opening lift, there were calls to drop it from 260kg to
100kg. Mark was determined to continue as planned and after sinking
260kg very low, managed to grind it out. Meanwhile, given his injury,
Andy decided to lift in his loose squat suit, and opened on 265kg, less
than planned. He was able to sink the squat low enough to pass some
strict refereeing and get on the board. In the second round of the
squats, Mark opted to try one more attempt at 270kg, and Andy went for
280kg. Although clearly in some discomfort, and evidently disappointed
that he was not able to lift the weights he had been hoping, Mark fought
the weight all the way up to receive three white lights. Andy also came
through on his second attempt, but as with Mark, it appeared very close
to his limit. In the third round Mark decided not to chance any further
injury and passed, however, Andy was determined to go for broke, and
called for 290kg, which would move him up to fifth place after the
squats. Unfortunately in the final round, another lifter also opted out
of an attempt, and left Andy with little time to prepare. After starting
to wrap his legs too late, he was forced to rush onto the platform, and
started the lift only seconds before being timed out. Andy sunk the
squat but got stuck shortly after driving the weight up, forcing the
spotters to help him into the rack. 
seventh place open to either of them. Mark's opening lift of 235kg was
reasonably comfortable, and fortunately his shin was causing him minimal
discomfort. Andy's opener of 250kg flew up, leaving him in 9th place
ahead of Mark on bodyweight, both on 690kg. In the second round Mark
took 242.5kg to move ahead of Andy and the German in 8th place; it was a
difficult lift, but the referee's passed it and he jumped up two places.
Andy took a 15kg increase up to 265kg, to again move ahead of Mark once
more and also edge above the Japanese lifter in 7th place on bodyweight.
Again Andy pulled the lift strongly and jumped up to 7th place. After
Andy's pull, Mark was in 9th place, and the bar was raised to 250kg to
cement in this position. The lift broke the floor smoothly up to his
knees then slowed dramatically, and Mark showed great strength to avoid
hitching the bar as it edged very slowly up his legs, although it was
one of the longest lifts in the championships, the bar continually moved
upwards and Mark achieved an upright position, so the referees passed
the lift, and secured him a 705kg total and ninth place. With the two
Japanese lifters failing in their attempts to move ahead of Andy, and
6th place some 50kg away, Andy took 270kg to add 5kg to his total,
finishing with 710kg and 7th place.
it
was Ben Banks turn to lift in the 110kg class, the last lifter to
represent Great Britain. After bombing out in the Bench Press on
technicalities in the European Juniors, there was a lot of pressure to
make amends in France. Ben's opening squat of 260kg, was an easy opener,
which he sunk deep to receive three white lights. Given the tight
refereeing on the squats, the coaches chose a small increase to 275kg.
Ben again sunk the lift deep, and stood upright to receive three white
lights. But with more than half the lifters failing their second squats,
mostly for depth, a third attempt squat of 285kg was entered, a
competition best. Ben again sunk the lift very deep to receive three
white lights, leaving him in 7th place after his worst lift. However the
class had a number of strong squatters with the top three lifts are
340kg, 350kg, and 360kg, and two other lifters going over 300kg, Ben
would need strong performances in the Bench and Deadlift to move up the
table. 
leave Ben in a medal position, with the Ukrainian lifter successfully
lifting the same weight at a heavier bodyweight in the first round and
jumping to 240kg in the second round, and a Hungarian lifter also
attempting 230kg at a lighter bodyweight. The Hungarian went first, and
the weight appeared too heavy for him as he barely moved it from his
chest. Attempting the same weight, Ben pressed it strongly, only to
receive three red lights, although the lift was not the smoothest,
failing the lift on an uneven lockout seemed harsh. Bearing in mind the
Hungarian's last attempt, and no other attempts at 230kg, the coaches
stuck with 230kg, which could potentially have left Ben with the Gold in
the bench if the Hungarian failed his third attempt and the Ukranian
failed with 240kg. Unfortunately, the Ukranian pressed 240kg strongly,
securing the Gold on the bench. Both Ben and the Hungarian were
currently out of medal positions, and needed their third attempts. The
Hungarian went first, grinding the weight out, to the satisfaction of
the referees, and securing the Silver. It was now Ben's turn, with only
200kg on the board, he was in 9th place on the Bench Press, and pressing
the 230kg would earn him a Bronze medal. He took the weight well and
pressed it comfortably, this time earning him three white lights and the
Bronze.