Meanwhile at the 69kg session at the 2017 Chinese National Games …
23 year old Shi Zhiyong (Olympic champ) clean and squat jerks 198kg for the win.
- Snatch: x160, x160, 160kg
- Clean & Jerk: 193, 198, x200!
Liao Hui second (160/194).
29 year old Liao Hui who came out of retirement earlier this year, went 2/6.
- Snatch: 160, x162, x162
- Clean & Jerk: 194, x199, x199
194kg Clean & Jerk
160kg Snatch by Shi Zhiyong
… after missing his first two attempts.
Insane comp! So many world class lifters
Does anyone know what Liao Hui’s other attempts were in the clean and jerk?
It’s going to be interesting to see if these two maybe can push each other to a 200 kg clean and jerk in international competition.
Disregard my question, just read it above…
Looks like the future of 69kg lies with Shi. What about 77kg after Lu retires?
Who knows? Liao and Lu usually don’t go all out for domestic comps and it remains to be seen if Shi simply peaked very well this one time or if he will continue to be this strong/stronger. The announcer said Shi Zhiyong came today to topple Liao Hui’s Dynasty LOL. But the empire might strike back next time if Shi doesn’t remain in this condition or if Liao Hui decides to peak into WR breaking form again, which is usually reserved for international comps.
In any case, if Lu is really retiring as opposed to just taking it easy (he also totaled 366 at the 2013 National Games), it looks like it would be an excellent choice to move Liao into 77 since Lu’s departure would leave China without a gold-medal contender in the 77. Su Ying looked very promising when he went 370 and beat Lu Xiaojun at the 2015 nationals, (going on to brag that he wasn’t even pleased with his results as compared to his training numbers) but it went downhill for Su from there. Same thing happened to Feng Lvdong. I hope Shi Zhiyong is here to stay.
For the Chinese national team, I am afraid only the men in the office can decide who will compete based on each lifter’s expected chance of winning. From the eyes of an untrained outsider it seems that Liao and Lu are (or start) going downhill. I may be totally wrong but we shall see later this year.
It seems to me that Lv Xiaojun’s stamina is diminishing with his age though not necessarily his strength (much) and certainly not his skill. If he decides to continue and see how old he can push it, I recommend he go forward treating his comps like he has only 2 attempts in each lift instead of 3 to conserve strength. In Rio, if he went 173, 177, — in the snatch, then he might have been able to do 200, 204-5, — in the clean and jerk and beat Rahimov. In my opinion, assuming he went there for gold or nothing, there was no reason for him to lift 170+197 as his openers.
Although Liao Hui is still strong he is far inferior to Shi Zhiyong. Shi is more powerful and his lifts are cleaner. Hui has wobbling elbows so he fails easier and also his attempts wouldn’t have been given in an intl competition. I mean olympics or world champs. If the Chinese won’t be banned from the worlds he probably won’t be taken in my opinion. All in all like Lu Xiajoun he is getting old and starting to fade. Shi Zhiyong looked like a lion and if he didn’t screw his snatches he would have won even easier with a much bigger margin. I don’t think Liao Hui and Lu Xiajoun made good decisions by coming out of retirement.
While I do agree it was a questionable return from retirement regarding Liao Hui as Shi Zhiyong was elected for Rio and he seems at least as strong as Liao during his youth – I don’t agree with Lu returning being a necessary bad move. There’s no doubt that he has gotten older etc. but even in this condition no one else seems to be able to match his level. The lifters who were closest in the last decade I can recall were probably Su Dajin followed by Lu Haojie and then Su Ying.
I would guess that Lu Xiaojun probably quits after this comp or he’ll likely won’t last more than a year but as he mentioned – as long his numbers aren’t being beat then he still wants to lift and currently China seems to be really lacking in the 77 area. I’m wondering if they have any plans on pushing more 69 people onto 77 like they did with Yuan Chengfei.
Question is whether Shi can stay at this level, improve, or will this be a one-off comp where his peak was magical. If he never showed up this strong again, I wouldn’t be shocked, but I would be disappointed. As I said before, Liao probably did not expect anything of this caliber out of anyone else and thus may have thought he could win while saving his best peaks for international comps. Even when he was much younger, he didn’t often do more than 160+194 so I can’t say for sure that this is Liao Hui fading. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could get back into WR-breaking form if sent to the worlds.