Abdelrahman ‘Abdo’ Younes
At the end of a dramatic 85kg session that featured 11 world records, Abdelrahman ‘Abdo’ Younes was on top of the podium for Egypt at the age of 21 – the youngest men’s winner in the first seven days of the IWF World Championships in Ningbo, China, and the first champion from outside Asia.
His performance was the best on GAMX points, the IWF’s preferred scoring method, in the three Olympic categories to date.
The top two, Abdo and Yeison Lopez from Colombia, proved too good for the others as they set nine world records between them. Ro Kwang Ryol claimed clean and jerk gold with a world record 215kg for PRK but was fifth on total after trailing by 15kg in snatch.
Abdo won 5-4 on world records as he finished 177-213-390. Yeison had looked the likelier winner after building a 1kg lead in snatch and comfortably making his first two clean and jerks. But he failed on 213kg and finished 178-209-387.
Yeison had made 173-210-383 four weeks ago from only four attempts, declining twice in a Pan American Games qualifier in Mexico. The disappointment showed when he failed to complete that final attempt after cleaning it.
Lei Jiangqing, 23, from China was third on 168-214-382, the same total he made in a national trial in September. This was only his second international competition and a massive improvement on his eighth-place finish at the Asian Championships in May.
Alexey Churkin from Kazakhstan, whose snatch world record of 173kg was beaten five times in eight lifts, was fourth on 168-210-378, the same total as Ro. Both men failed twice in snatch. Marin Robu from Moldova briefly held the snatch world record but made only one clean and jerk for seventh place on 176-197-373.
Abdo lived up to his own expectations after months of hard work. “My eyes are entirely fixed on the Senior World Championships,” he said beforehand. “Every training session, every lift, and every ounce of recovery is being directed toward a singular vision: standing on the podium at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.”
The world standards at 85kg were clearly set low compared with other categories. There were as many world records in this single session as there have been in any other weight class since June, when the new categories were introduced. The world records for the ‘old’ 85kg that existed until 2018 were 187-220-396, while this year’s world standards were set at 171-208-374.
For good measure there was also a junior world record. Angel Rodriguez from Venezuela bettered his own mark in the B Group but made only one clean and jerk and finished 11th overall on 170-191-361, which was 6kg down on his best total.
When the European 79kg champion Gevorg Serobian finished 163-184-347 in the C Group he became the fourth Russian to make all six attempts in Ningbo. Half of Russia’s 16-strong team have competed so far, two of them in A Groups and the others in C or D. Although only two have finished in the top 10, their collective success rate is remarkable: 42 good lifts from 48 attempts.
