Zydrunas Savickas had a close miss with a world record attempt, there were a lot of missed attempts and the final results were not as high as expected, but at least one thing did go according to plan: Zydrunas Savickas won the 2011 Log Lift World Championship this past weekend.Of the twelve competitors, three bombed—both Tommi Lotta and Markes Leitas missed 170 kg three times, and Konstantin Illin missed 175 kg three times. Agris Kazelniks (175 kg), Bjorn Andre Solvang (175 kg) and Vytautas Lalas (185) only made one good lift; and at the other end of the spectrum, only Patrick Baboumian made three good lifts (175, 180, 185 kg). With a best lift of 192.5 kg in 3 attempts for Zydrunas, it was not his best performance,but enough to get the Log Lift World Championships title again in the Siemens Arena in Vilnius.
Not only Zydrunas, but all the athletes where very nervous and struggled with the big, thick, former IFSA log from stainless steel. A few reasons where mentioned for this struggling by the athletes: It is early in the season, the IFSA log is a very difficult log because of its size and length, and the warm up was in another hall with another log. This makes it all not easier. Also, the whole event was live on Eurosport, which gives extra pressure to the athletes because of the tight time schedule and strict rules by 3 referees. The whole event took exactly one hour but was anyway a success and we have to give credit for all the athletes to do such an effort in these circumstances. After all, 180 kg with the steel log is still a very great result. Or, as Bjorn Solvang from Norway said to me: “At home I can do easy 180 for 3 reps, but with this log I’m already happy to get 175 kg 1 time.” That’s exactly the difference!
Vidas Blekaitas took 2nd place with 190 kg and Vytautas Lalas 3rd place with 185 kg. He missed 195 kg two times after being very close there. He gambled too high to beat Zydrunas.Patrick Baboumian was the only one who broke his national record, in his case 185 kg for a new German record and 4th place overall. Also Ervin Katona hit the 185 kg. The reason that Vytautas got 3rd place with 185 is that he got his 185 kg already in the first attempt.
Top 6 results:
- Zydrunas Savickas 192.5 kg
- Vidas Blekaitis 190.0 kg
- Vytautas Lalas 185.0 kg
- Patrick Baboumian 185.0 kg
- Ervin Katona 185.0 kg
- Warrick Brant 182.5 kg
The Log Lift World Championships will be replayed on Eurosport at Sunday 20 February.
by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. | ©2011 IronMind
