Russian trio put on record show in Aleksin

“My performance today of 170kg was nice for the European Championships, but I’ll try to get even better because I know it’s not my maximum.”

Olesya Lafina’s world record in the women’s -50kg – along with Ildar Bedderdinov’s world record in the men’s –59kg event and Vladimir Krivulya’s European record in the men’s -54kg event – highlighted the host nation’s success at the IPC Powerlifting Open European Championships on Thursday (23 May) in Aleksin, Russia.

Lafina starred on the second day of the Championships for Russia with a world-record lift of 114kg. Her teammate Anastasia Khonina, who is just 19, took silver with a lift of 97kg and Spain’s Loida Zabala Ollero claimed bronze with a lift of 96kg.

Having won silver medals in the old -48kg category at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games, Lafina is already a force to be reckoned with in the women’s -50kg class and now has made an even bigger name for herself internationally in Aleksin.

“The competition was great and it was difficult so I really had to do my best,” Lafina said. “I didn’t want to think about anything except the competition beforehand, and I listened to some hard rock music to warm up and get myself ready, which worked.”

Bedderdinov, meanwhile, raised the bar with 175kg to break the world record in the men’s -59kg event, continuing Russia’s roll at the Championships.

The 29-year-old outclassed a tough weight category, which included Poland’s Mariusz Tomczyk, who took silver with a successful 165kg lift. Iraq’s Hussein Juboori grabbed bronze in the Open competition with a lift of 157kg, while Finland’s Juhani Kokko claimed bronze in the European division with a lift of 140kg.

In a stacked field in the new men’s -54kg category in Aleksin, it was Russia’s Paralympic bronze medallist Vladimir Krivulya who found his way to the top of the podium with a European-record lift of 170kg.

“It’s always amazing, when you’re breaking records,” Krivulya said.

“My performance today of 170kg was nice for the European Championships, but I’ll try to get even better because I know it’s not my maximum.”

Krivulya hinted at eventually breaking the world-record mark of 181kg set by Egypt’s Sherief Othman at February’s Fazza International Powerlifting Championships.

The Russian European champion, meanwhile, received stiff competition in Aleksin from Greece’s Dimitrios Bakochristos and Great Britain’s Ali Jawad, who finished second and third, respectively. Both lifted 163kg, but Bakochristos won the tiebreaker based on a lower bodyweight.

The Championships include IPC Powerlifting’s new weight categories, which took effect on 1 January, changing the structure of weight classes. This followed an extensive review of all bodyweight category trends across major competitions.

For more information on the 2013 IPC Powerlifting Open European Championships, please visit the event website at www.Paralympic.org/aleksin-2013.

All action from the event is being streamed live on the IPC’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/ParalympicSportTV.

You can also follow the action on Twitter at @IPCPowerlifting and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/IPCPowerlifting.