Harrison Maurus became the first American to win a medal at the International Weightlifting Federation World Weightlifting Championships since 2005, winning bronze medals in the clean & jerk and total weight Saturday at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The 17-year-old Maurus lifted 193 kilograms on his second attempt in the clean & jerk, setting an American record in the 77-kilogram weight class and breaking his own world and American youth records.
✅ Break a 20-year-long men’s medal drought
✅ Break ???????? records
Oh, and Harrison Maurus is only 17! ???? Read more about Maurus at the #17WWC NOW! https://t.co/SuLEQx70FM pic.twitter.com/hO3iUMHXJ8— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) December 3, 2017
Egyptian Mohamed Ihab won the gold medal by lifting 196 kilograms on his final attempt. Rejepbay Rejepov of Turkmenistan won the silver medal by lifting 194 kilograms on his final attempt.
Maurus did not attempt a third lift. The resident of the Seattle suburb of Auburn, Washington lifted 187 kilograms on his first attempt.
Maurus also won a bronze medal in total weight, 348 kilograms, after beginning the competition by lifting 155 kilograms in the snatch to finish fifth. Ihab also won the total gold medal with 361 kilograms and Rejepov the silver with 352.
Ihab won the gold medal in the snatch, lifting 165 kilograms on his second attempt. Rejepov won the silver, lifting 158 kilograms on his second attempt. Dumitru Captari of Romania won the bronze, lifting 156 kilograms on his final attempt.
Ihab was the bronze medalist in the class at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Maurus was fifth in the snatch, lifting 155 kilograms on his second attempt. Erkand Qerimaj of Albania also lifted 155 kilograms, but finished fourth because he lifted the weight earlier in the competition.
Maurus began competing in 2013. He won gold medals in total and the clean & jerk and a silver medal in the snatch at the Youth World Championships in April, setting a youth world record in the clean & jerk.
The last time an American won a medal at the world championships was in 2005 when Cheryl Haworth won bronze medals in the clean & jerk and total in the over-75-kilogram weight class. The last time American man won a medal was in 1997 when Wes Barnett won a silver medal in the clean & jerk and a bronze medal in total.
The world championships are held annually except in Olympic years.
Nine nations — Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Turkey, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan — are banned from the championships as they serve one-year suspensions for doping violations in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Those nine nations combined for 27 of the 45 medals awarded at the 2015 world championships in Houston.
Weightlifting competitions consist of two portions, the snatch and the clean and jerk, with each athlete given three attempts in both.
In the snatch, the bar is lifted from the floor to arms length overhead in one motion.
In the clean & jerk the barbell is lifted overhead in two continuous motions — the clean, which brings the bar to the shoulders, and the jerk, in which the athlete raises the bar overhead.
The best total in each successful lift is combined for the overall total. Medals are awarded in the snatch, clean and jerk and total.
The women’s 69-kilogram class will be completed later Saturday. Its field includes Egyptian Sara Ahmed, a bronze medalist in the class at the 2016 Rio Games.
Both gold medalist Xiang Yanmei of China and silver medalist Zhazira Zhapparkul of Kazakhstan are not competing because their countries are among the nine banned.
The fourth-place finisher in Rio, Leidy Solis of Colombia, is also entered.
Ahmed’s fiance, Ragab Abdelhay, is set to compete in the men’s 94- kilogram class Sunday. Abdelhay was fifth in the class at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
The lone American in the field is Mattie Rogers of Orlando, Florida, the American record holder.
—City News Service