The 52kg class at Classic Worlds was absolutely stacked! This was widely considered to be a two horse race but the nominations did not reflect the final placings and we had a tight battle all the way.
Current world champion, Noémie Allabert of France, opened with 160kg, only 1kg below the current world record. However, Canada’s Stef Kean was the first to break it with a beautiful 161.5kg on her second. Allabert followed with a 165kg that looked just as easy but that world record only stood for a few moments as Pleun Dekkers of the Netherlands came out to reclaim it with a super easy 165.5kg.
In the third round, Kean squatted 162.5kg to stay ahead of France’s Shizuka Rico and take the bronze medal. Allabert took the record back with a tough 168kg but Dekkers was having none of it and her 168.5kg looked easy and settled the squat medals as well as the world record.
Marisa Inda of USA pushed to the fore on bench press, taking the bench gold medal despite only getting one in. Both the French lifters finished with 77.5kg with Dekkers taking 85kg and Kean 80kg. Megan-Li Smith also joined the fray, benching 80kg to pull herself up to 4th place.
At sub-total, less than 20kg separated the top 5 with Dekkers out in front, 8kg ahead of Allabert who was, in turn, only 3kg ahead of Kean and only 5kg covering the spread down to Smith and Rico. Things soon changed however as the deadlifters came to the fore.
Allabert’s 182.5kg opener moved her into the lead and Rico jumped up to second with 185kg. Smith struggled, only getting one lift in and started to slip back. Not the biggest deadlifter, Dekkers hung on, moving past Rico by only 1kg with her second pull. Farhanna Farid surprised everyone by pulling 197kg in the second round to take Rico’s deadlift world record. Her third of 200.5kg would take the deadlift gold as well but she couldn’t challenge the front runners on total.
In the final round of deadlifts, it looked like we had our podium place sorted but Kean took advantage of Rico missing her second and third lifts and pulled a gutsy 180kg to snatch the overall bronze on bodyweight – a great comeback performance. Allabert pulled a triumphant 192.5kg to clinch the world title and push up the total world record by a couple of kilos too.
Can anyone challenge the ascendant French team who are now three for three at Classic Worlds? Tune in and find out.
