International competition round-up. October 2021
Two SAM members have been in international sporting action for France in recent weeks. All at SAM are extremely proud to have athletes represent club and country on the international stage. Their successes and experiences strengthen and invigorate all at SAM and enable us to live our mission.
Hervé France travelled to Vilnius, Lithuania at the end of October for the IPF Classic Bench Press Championships placing an amazing 2nd in the Master 2 category (-93kg body weight)!
Hervé’s best effort of 180kg was equal to the winning lift in the above weight category (-105kg body weight), but he was thwarted by Jan Kuehl of Germany who posted just 3.4 points more than our champion via a winning lift of 185 kg. I have the privilege of training with Hervé and have seen him bench more than the winning total at SAM. Needless to say, we all have high hopes for Hervé’s next competition. Full competition results are hosted on the IPF website here.
Jonathan De Villiers travelled to Budapest, Hungary for the 2021 IUKL Kettlebell World Championship. Although he entered the veteran category, this was actually Jonathan’s first-ever foray into the relatively unchartered world of international kettlebell competition. The fact his debut was on the world stage is something to be celebrated in and of its self. Although he is a relative latecomer to the sport, Jonathan enthusiasm and passion for swinging iron is infectiously obvious to anyone who has seen him train! for more of the same enthusiasm, read Jonathan’s special report of the event here. None of us would be surprised if this was the first of many such excursions. The IUKL event write-up can be found here.
Jonathan jerked two 26 kilogram kettlebells a total of 46 times within the 10 minute time limit.
As if competing in the world championships wasn’t enough for one month, Jonathan travelled to Belgrade in Serbia the following week to undertake a coaching course. Jonathan is now an IUKL accredited Kettlebell Sports coach at the national level!
