Phil Richard from Swansea wins 3 Gold Medals at the 2009 IPF European Powerlifting Championships
Swansea lifter Phil Richard finally wins the IPF European Powerlifting Championships!
The first day of lifting saw two Great Britain athletes step up to compete, with Phil Richard, five times European Junior Champion, looking for his first senior title after placing second in 2006, and Rodney Hypolite, returning to the international platform after a ten year break, hoping to add to his five European titles from the 1990s. Both lifters were looking to compete in the 67.5kg and face the reigning World Champion, Hassan El Belghitti from France.
Both Phil and Rod were struggling to drop the weight after spending the last twelve months competing as light 75kg lifters. In the evening before the competition Rod was comfortable after dieting in the build up, but Phil was still left with 2kg to lose. With an early 9am weigh-in, Rod made the weight comfortably, but there was a tense wait before Phil got to the scales; after cutting out food and spending a restless night in a sauna suit, to lose water, he managed to scrape in the weight class with 100g to spare. After the weigh-in there was an hour to rehydrate and take on food, before they started warming up.
At 11am the lifting began, the class of seven lifters began, with the main competition for the podium for two british lifters coming from the World Champion and the Ukrainian Maksym Masyuk. There was a promising start with Phil and Rod showing the biggest opening squats with 275kg and 270kg respectively, but with the Frenchman successful at 260kg, the pressure was on. Rod came out fired up for 270kg, looking strong on the walk out, but folding as he descended with weight he struggled to regain his posture as he drove, getting stuck midway into the lift. Following Rod, the Ukrainian received white lights for his opening lift also at 270kg. Last out, Phil took his 275kg for a ride, for a very comfortable opener and a promising start. In the second round, Rod retook his opener, but again got stuck near the bottom of the lift, the dieting sapping strength from his core, leaving his prospects looking bleak for the Championship. Next on the platform, the Frenchman and the Ukrainian hit their second attempts at 275kg and 280kg respectively, leaving Phil needing his second attempt at 290kg to stay on top. Lowering the weight confidently, he sat back into the lift, taking a lot on his back, and muscling the weight to lockout, only to have the lift turned down two to one against, a harsh judgement against a slight stall in the middle of the lift, which the referees deemed to be a dip.
With the Ukrainian in the lead, and the reigning World Champion backed up by a strong pull, the heat was on Team GB to step up. Rod needed his last attempt at 270kg to stay in the competition and make a total, but despite giving it everything he had got, he had run out of steam. Following Rod, the Frenchman cut his final attempt at 282.5kg leaving him with 275kg. The Ukrainian consolidated his gold medal position in the squat with a final attempt at 290kg. This meant Phil's final attempt at 292.5kg would move him from Silver to Gold in the squat, but hitting a good depth, he fought the weight to lockout, but to the surprise of the audience was failed with two red lights. After a brief moment of confusion, the Jury stepped in to over-rule the questionable decision, awarding Phil the lift and the Gold on the squat.
Next up Rod was contending for a medal on the bench press, and Phil was looking to put some distance between himself and the competition to cover himself for his competitors' strong deadlifts. Hassan El Belghitti, the reigning world champion, opened on 155kg on the bench, but after a short drive got stuck under the weight. Next on the bar, Rod pressed 160kg strong only to have the lift turned down for an uneven extension. Then the Ukranian was unsuccessful with 170kg, struggling to hold the line to his chest. Last up in the first round Phil called for 185kg, an opening lift that would probably take the gold on the bench. After some difficulty with the shirt in the warm-up room, Phil lowered the weight strongly, and fought the bar back up, to be awarded the lift with two white lights.
In the second round, the Frenchman re-took 155kg, but again got stuck inches from his chest, straight up next the Ukranian received red lights for his second attempt at 170kg. Rod was still in contention for the Bench Press medals, and despite missing his opening attempt, he took a 15kg jump to 175kg. This time he pressed the weight smoothly for three white lights, and moved into silver medal position on the Bench. Phil came back and muscled up 190kg, to put further distance between himself and the field in the subtotal and almost secure the gold on the bench.
The final round of the bench could prove to be decisive for the whole competition. With Rod out in the first round, if Hassan and Maksym were to fail their final attempts on the bench it would leave Phil with a massive lead over the remaining competitors and almost certain of the title. El Belghitti retaking 155kg for the final time, he dropped the weight fast onto his stomach and fought the weight to lockout, receiving red lights for not lowering the bar to his chest, and exiting the competition. The Ukranian, attacked his final attempt at 170kg, but like the Frenchman, received red lights as he dropped the bar onto his stomach, before fighting the wait up. This all but gave the title to Phil Richard. But there was still the matter of the Bench Press medal, with Rod despite to beat Phil, he put 190kg on the bar to match Phil's lift, and beat him on bodyweight. After finding a good line, he pressed the weight strong off his chest, but ground to halt midway into the lift. For the final lift in the discipline, Phil looked to add 2.5kg to his already winning press, but it proved too much on the day.
With 85kg over the competition at the sub-total, Phil dropped his opening deadlift to a modest 220kg to secure the title, pulling the weight with ease. With the Frenchman pulling out after bombing out on the bench, Rod stood a chance at taking a gold in the deadlift. After the Ukrainian pulled a strong 240kg, Rod loaded up 250kg for a strong pull.
n the second round, Phil made another comfortable lift with 237.5kg to make a personal best total of 720kg. The Ukrainian pulled another strong lift of 250kg, to edge Rod into second place on the deadlift on bodyweight. But after a strong first lift, Rod had called for 275kg to secure a gold on the deadlift, but failed to get the weight moving.
In the final round, Phil went for 250kg, to make a British Record total, a record currently held by Rod Hypolite. Phil came off the floor strong, but shaking as he went over his knees he could only manage a soft lockout, and was unable to satisfy the referees. Rod chose not to take his final attempt and was pushed down into Bronze medal position.
Phil finished the competition European Champion, with two further gold medals for the Squat and Bench Press, and twelve points for Team GB. Rod, though disappointed, secured a silver medal on the bench and a bronze on the deadlift.