The 63kg class lifted on Day 3 of the World Open Powerlifting Championships in Stavanger, Norway and promised fireworks with big names contesting the podium.
Taylor Lachapelle of USVI made an early mark on the competition with a junior world record on squat at 237.5kg with Italy’s Carola Garra only just behind on 235kg. Garra pulled out a big lead with an opening bench of 167.5kg: this was her only successful bench but it was 17.5kg ahead of her nearest rival. Both Lachapelle and ROC’s Daria Lomatskaia benched 150g to pull away from the rest of the field but, shockingly, multiple world champion and legend of the sport, Ukraine’s Larysa Soloviova, failed to make a successful bench which brought an end to her world championship campaign.
Lachapelle had the heaviest deadlift opener with 215kg and pulled it easily but the lift was turned down as she did not have her shoulders back. She was much more convincing with the weight on her second attempt which left her only 2.5kg behind Garra and gave her the junior total world record.
With everything still on the table in the final round, Garra pulled a tough looking 212.5kg which left Lachapelle facing a massive 227.5kg pull to take the win but it barely broke the floor before grinding to a halt, giving Garra her first equipped world title. Despite her disappointment on bench, Soloviova kept her composure and took the deadlift gold with 217.5kg. This session demonstrated that you can never predict what’s going to happen in equipped powerlifting.
With 3 more weight classes still to come, Garra leads the in the best lifter contest and ROC are slightly ahead of USVI in the team contest.
