CJ Cummings won his third consecutive IWF Junior World Championship yesterday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Cummings, who just turned 18 last month, went 5-for-6 and lifted a 316kg total to win three gold medals.
Cummings went 2-for-3 in the snatch, missing his final 145kg attempt. He would settle for 140kg and a 2kg lead heading into the clean and jerk. From there, Cummings would go 3-for-3 and finish with a 176kg clean and jerk, edging out Paul Dumitrascu (ROU) by 1kg.
Over the past three years, this year’s 316kg total is the lowest of all his victories, but it is the first time he has taken all three gold medals. In the two previous years Cummings’ clean and jerk has carried him to overall gold, while the snatch 1put him in a hole. Both previous years Cummings was in 4th after the snatch.
This year, however, Cummings improved his snatch and took 1st in the lift. A heavier clean and jerk was not required to win gold so Cummings likely had more in the tank.
Here are Cummings’ performances over the years.
2016: 137-180=317
2017: 138-183=321
2018: 140-176=316
In other Team USA news, Jordan Delacruz won three silver medals in the women’s 53kg weight category. Delacruz went 4-for-6 and finished with 86-107=193.
Alexander Reyes and Carlos Millen finished 14th and 15th in the men’s 62kg weight class. Hayley Reichardt took 8th in the women’s 48kg category while Megan Seegert failed to record a snatch.
