The World Kettlebell Lifting Championships occurred this past weekend in the Windy City, Chicago, IL. Roughly 50 competitors qualified for this event and many more came to watch. The event was highlighted by Marty Farrell becoming the first American male to be Master of Sport in both the biathlon and long cycle after he pounded out 49 reps of long cycle with the 32kg bells. There were many other great performances amongst both the men and women who competed.
As far as my performance, I was pretty satisfied, although I was unsuccessful in my bid for CMS ranking. During my flight, I was honored to be on the platform with Eric St Onge, Gregor Sobocan, and Andrew Durniat. My jerk set went quite well and I was able to surpass the CMS numbers for the 90kg weight class with a total of 75 reps. I was struggling during the first 3 minutes, but then settled in for the full 10 minute set. The video below shows myself and Eric, who pumped out an impressive 87 reps.
After close to a 2 1/2 hour break, we were back on the platform for our snatch set. Prior to the set, I still had the hope of making my CMS numbers (70 left/70 right). Things felt good at the beginning, but as I made it into the low 40's I could feel my grip beginning to falter. At 48 reps I decided to switch hands instead of gambling with dropping the bell. I was able to complete 45 reps on the right before loosing my grip.
All in all a respectable performance, but I had hoped to put up some better snatch numbers. Eric had a strong outing, hitting 70 reps on his left arm just around the 5 minute mark, but unfortunately his grip gave out around 50 reps on the right side also ending his bid for CMS ranking.
Below are photos of Andrew Durniat and myself and of all of the competitors.
