The 2019 World Weightlifting Championships will begin next Monday, the 16th of September. This year’s competition will take place in Pattaya, Thailand. The competition will run for 9 days, beginning at 8AM on the 16th, and ending at 5PM on the 25th. Four Irish competitors will take part in this year’s competition. Ireland will be represented by Sean Brown, Katey Byrd, Seamus O’Conchubhair and Sean Rigsby in Pattaya.
Competitors in the World Weightlifting Championships will have to perform two types of lifts, in the competition, the snatch and the clean and jerk. The maximum weight which competitors were able to use to complete both of these lifts will then be added together. The added weight total for both of these lifts will give lifters their total for the competition.
Sean Brown is Ireland’s top ranked lifter, according to Weightlifting Ireland. Brown will be competing in the 81kg category. Brown holds Irish records in both the 81kg and 89kg weight categories. Brown has set the Irish record for both the snatch and the clean and jerk, as well as the total, in the 81kg category. Brown set both the snatch and total records, at this year’s Irish Senior Championships, which took place on February 2nd. Brown’s snatch record stands at 146kg, while his total record stands at 316kg. Meanwhile, Brown set his clean and jerk record in April at the European Senior Championships. At the European Championships in Georgia, Brown set the clean and jerk record at 171kg. Hopefully, the Ireland football team have as much success in Georgia next month bookies have them slight favourites to get a win.
Brown holds both the snatch and total records in the 89kg weight category. He set both records just over two months ago at the 2019 Irish Club Championships. His 89kg snatch record is 135kg. While his 89kg total record is 295kg. Brown is the head coach of CrossfitIreland Weightlifting Club, and is unquestionably the most impressive lifter in Ireland at present. If you want to see Brown compete in the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships, he is currently estimated to be competing on Sunday the 22nd, at either 10AM or 2:45PM (local time).
Katey Byrd is Ireland’s only female participant in this year’s World Weightlifting Championships. Byrd will be competing in the 71kg weight category. Byrd is currently based in the UK. As well as being an accomplished weightlifter, Byrd is also an accomplished strength and conditioning coach. Her best ever total, according to Weightlifting Ireland, is 171kg. Byrd is currently estimated to be lifting on Sunday the 22nd, at 10:30PM (local time).
Seamus O’Conchubhair will be competing in 102kg weight category. He is currently unattached to a specific club. O’Conchubhair holds the Irish record for the clean and jerk at 102kg. He set the record on the 14th of July, at the Leinster Open Championships. His record clean and jerk stands at 172kg. O’Conchubhair’s best ever total is 314kg. As of now, he is estimated to be lifting on Wednesday the 25th, at 8AM (local time).
Sean rigsby is the fourth and final Irish competitor taking part in this year’s World Weightlifting Championships. Rigsby will be competing in the 109kg weight category. He is affiliated with Dublin based ‘Capital Strength Weightlifting Club’. However, Rigsby is currently based in the USA.
Rigsby holds the Irish record for both the clean and jerk, and the total in the 109kg weight category. He set these records on the 7th of July at the American Open Series 2. Rigsby set the Irish clean and jerk record at 186kg. Meanwhile, he set the total record at 326kg. He also holds the Irish record for the clean and jerk in the over 109kg weight category. He set this record in March of this year at the Las Vegas International. Rigsby’s clean and jerk record at 109+kg is 182kg.
Rigsby detailed his pride at representing Ireland in the upcoming World Weightlifting Championships in a blog post. Rigsby stated that it is “the honour of (his) life” to represent his country in the upcoming tournament. Rigsby also goes into detail about his journey in weightlifting, and what the sport means to him, in the eye-opening piece. At the moment, similarly to fellow Irish competitor Seamus O’Conchubhair, Rigsby is estimated to be lifting on Wednesday the 25th, at 8AM (local time).
