On Saturday December 3rd Mira accomplished her dream of becoming Master World Champion!
The IWF Master World Championships took place in Orlando, Florida. Based on qualifying totals and the attempt each lifter elected to take, Mira was the final lifter in the flight in both the snatch and the clean & jerk. Not only that, she took her opening attempts (her lightest ones) after each lifter had completed all three of their attempts (their heaviest ones). This meant that Mira just needed to make one snatch and one clean & jerk to secure the gold.
For snatch she opened at 54kg. She got the bar overhead and stood up with it, but the lift was turned down (2-to-1). She then repeated 54kg and made it which secured her the win in the snatch. After that she moved up to 56 and also competed it successfully.
For the clean and jerk she opened at 69kg and made it – this lift won her both the clean & jerk and the overall gold medal! After that she moved the bar up to 72kg and made it successfully, and then finally 73kg where she cleaned it but missed the jerk.
A few things to note from this competition:
- Mira recently moved down a weight category (down to 55kg). This is difficult in many sports, but can be especially hard in weightlifting because you really need to fuel your body with enough calories to recover from the grueling training. The decision to move down to this weight category meant that Mira had to weigh out her food for pretty much every meal for months to ensure she was not exceeding her total calorie limit nor her limit on any particular macronutrient.
- Circling back to what was mentioned above, Mira didn’t even take her opening attempts until after all the other lifters had finished. This is a bit of a blessing and a curse. The good news is that she knew exactly what she needed to do in order to win: simply make at least one snatch and one clean & jerk. The downside is it can be hard to go for personal bests or any other kind of record because your rest breaks become quite short – only two minutes. When two or more lifters are all taking attempts at the same weight then typically you get a longer break while the other lifters take their turn, but when you “follow yourself” you only get two minutes between attempts. That said – Mira knew what she needed to do in order to secure the gold and executed the lifts to make it happen!
Please help us in congratulating coach Mira on this incredible achievement!
