2012 IPF Raw Worlds

Since Justin was out rucking his face off last weekend, he asked me put together a synopsis of the 2012 IPF Raw Worlds. This information was compiled from watching videos of the event, various reports, logs, and accounts. I haven’t had a chance to speak to any of the lifters, so if anything is incorrect, just let me know and I’ll edit it. – Jacob Cloud

The first-ever IPF Classic Cup was held this past weekend in Stockholm, Sweden, and it proved to be a thrilling meet for drug-tested, raw powerlifting. Since many 70’s Big readers regularly compete in the American arm of the IPF, the USAPL, this meet is of particular relevance. Perhaps the best part is that one of our own, Matt Nolan, represented us and our country proudly on the biggest stage in raw powerlifting. Since this was an international meet, the international weight classes were used, which is an interesting wrinkle for those of us reading from our American couches. As these classes are relatively new, World Standards were set as baselines and literally dozens were broken this weekend, including a bunch by our favorite ‘Mericans.

If you recall from this post, Nolan had the performance of a lifetime to become the American 100kg champion last August just to get the opportunity to go to Worlds. He decided to cut to the 93kg class, which ended up being a tightly contested race amongst a lot of talented young guys. He opened on the squat at 230kg, an easy weight for him, but was surprised to see red lights for depth. When he saw them again on the second, I can only imagine his frustration at the judging, which was to be complained about by many afterwards (especially the Americans, justifiably). He buried 230kg on his third attempt to stay in the meet, but was already far behind his planned numbers. He shook this off and went 3/3 on bench, hitting 172.5 on his third to stay in the meet, headed into his best lift. His opening dead at 292.5 went up easily, and he had officially totalled. His second attempt, 312.5, was for a new World Record, but he narrowly missed it, and was followed by a Polish lifter who pulled 330kg to break the standard. Another missed attempt at 312.5 for his third, and Nolan finished a very respectable 11th in the world. Not the podium finish he had hoped for, but I think we can all give him high fives and watch him put up some huge numbers in the near future in an attempt to get back to the big stage. I expect to see a 335kg deadlift soon, and look forward to competing with him at Nationals.

Here’s the video of the entire 93kg class. To watch Nolan, fast forward to 193:00, 203:00, 213:00 for squats, 258:00, 268:00, 279:00 for bench, 325:00, 336:00, 349:00 for deads.

The other men’s class that was of particular interest was 120kg, where Mike Tuchscherer was the favorite to win. He had some of the most particular judging I’ve ever seen – getting red lights on all 3 of his squat attempts, and only staying in the meet when his final 315kg squat was overturned by appeal. There was some talk of a hamstring injury, but I don’t have details. He managed to bench well, but ran out of juice on deads (most likely due to the injury), narrowly missing his second and third attempts, and he finished 3rd due to a higher bodyweight than the second place lifter, who shared his 865kg total. In the SHW class (120kg+), Blaine Sumner ignored the tough squat judging (he received red lights on his opener as well), ending up with a 375kg beast of a squat that nobody could catch . His gold medal not only crowned him King of the North, but is a huge accomplishment considering his numbers were well below his PRs, and there’s a lot more to come from this monster. I have a feeling he’ll smash a 1000+ lb raw squat record very soon wearing only a belt and knee sleeves.

Blaine Sumner buries 375kg to appease the judges.

Other notable American Men’s performances: The US 56kg (Eric Kupperstein) and 60kg (Mike Kuhns) champions battled it out in the 59kg class. Eric ended up with the bronze and attained a new WR DL of 252.5kg (that’s 4.3 times his bodyweight, folks), while Mike scored a new WR 225kg squat en route to a 5th place finish. I assume he was injured, since his bench was much lower than anticipated. These guys are a blast to watch, so keep an eye out for them at Nationals. Alex Tertitski also grabbed a Bronze in the 83kg’s, with an amazing 8/9 performance, including a PR bench (162.5kg) and a WR DL of 310kg. It’s worth noting that his third squat was yet another example of an American squat getting red lights for depth, or his total would have been even higher.


Alex’s beastly deadlift. This guy’s an inspiration to us older guys who compete raw.

The American Men finished with a second overall team placing. Considering the extremely difficult situation of flying across the world, making weight in new classes, only to face tough judging, I commend all of these guys on representing us so well. I have a feeling next year, we’ll be pushing for the overall championship over Russia.

American women showed up strong, as expected, and also finished second as a team in the overall points standings (again, to Russia). Sioux-z Hartwig Gary went 9/9 and finished second in the 52kg class, and Amanda Padgett scored a PR total and 5th place in the 57kg’s.

What wasn’t expected was the battle in the 63kg class. Jennifer Thompson, one of the best powerlifters of any class or era, completely dominates the 60kg’s in the US, and has recently benched over 300lbs…raw…at under 132 pounds of bodyweight. Yeah, you read that right. Kimberly Walford has been a force in the 67.5kg class, and most recently won the Pro GNC Deadlift contest at the Arnolds with a 512lb suited conventional pull. Thanks to the international weight standards, these lifters competed head to head as 63s, and the results were epic. FOUR women in the class topped out their squat at 142.5kg, including both Americans. JT created a cushion in her best lift, out-benching Kim 132.5 to 105, leaving it to the deadlifts to decide the champion. It came down to the final pull, where Kim yanked a 220.5kg new world record to edge out JT by half a kilo for the world championship. Amazing.


Kim’s final deadlift to win it all.

Since the only way to qualify for the IPF World Classic as an American lifter is to win your class at USAPL Raw Nationals, I expect to see a lot of you in Killeen, TX the first weekend of August, either lifting or cheering on our country’s best, and certainly supporting our own. Nolan’s going to be there to defend his championship so he can take another crack at Worlds. I will be lifting and coaching a couple other lifters, and Justin will of course be coaching Chris, Mike, and A.C. We can all watch nervously to see if Brent Kim clean and jerks his opening deadlift attempt, and anyone who gets a 390 Wilks (for Men, 340 for Women) can qualify for the 2013 Arnolds (and you know there will be a 70’s Big party there). In addition, Nats are in Texas, so you know there will be beer, BBQ, and 100 degree weather to help us all make weight. It is known.

Full Men’s Results

Full Women’s Results

Videos of all the lifting

Edit: If you intend to lift at the meet and a) would like to be handled by me (where I coach you at the meet, not fondle you) or b) would like to be a part of the 70’s Big team, then comment on the site or shoot me a message. –Justin

24 thoughts on “2012 IPF Raw Worlds

  1. Justin-
    I plan to be there. Shot you an email about squats about a week or two ago. I’ll be competing as a 181# Master (40-44), so my lifts will be on Saturday.

    Sean D

  2. Great write up!

    I think Mike T really got screwed, all of his squats looked plenty deep. He lost close to 100lbs off of his total because of that, and probably messed with his head big time for the rest of the meet. Really not a fan of the IPF, they manage to take all of the fun out of powerlifting without fail.

  3. Nice job, Jacob! I always enjoy 70’s Big’s coverage of PL and oly events – I’m looking forward to the write-up for USAPL Raw Nationals.

  4. I am obviously a fan of Tuscherer and he was ROYALLY fucked by the judging. I love how squats before and after him were getting passed and he arguably BURIED all three (he would of been redlighted for too deep in the SPF). Ugh. Oh well even with those odds to pull a 3rd place finish is INCREDIBLY impressive.

    Also Kim and JT are amazingly terrifying at what they do.

    Also good luck to all you guys in Tejas this year. I WILL BE THERE NEXT YEAR.

  5. It’s dissapointing what happened to Nolan Power. Of course it’s hard to tell from the front camera angle, but those squats looked plenty good to me. I admire the stoic way he handled it though.

  6. I think it was awesome that the IPF organized a world cup, because I think that if Powerlifting wants to go mainstream, then you need to have raw competitions with strong lifters.

    Single ply is great, but for a beginner it’s impossible to do without a knowledgable trainer, a dedicated powerlifting gym and some money for the gear. So I’m happy to see raw getting popular in Europe.

    On the subject of the judging, I think this was a case of “somebody didn’t get the memo”. While the USAPL and IPF rule books are identical when it comes to the wording, the two drawings of a legit squat are pretty different. Also if you have seen videos of various IPF competitions, then you’ll notice the difference.

    I respect all of the lifters for putting their money where their mouth is and being a lot fucking stronger than me, but I’ve spoken to some people who’ve attended the meet, and they all commented on the flat squats of the Americans. While I didn’t see Mike lifting so I can’t speak about that, I nonetheless watched Nolan’s squats and the red lighting was correct.

    But I think it’s not easy for the American lifters, since it seems that for most it was their first meet under these rules. I’m sure that once they train for that bit of extra depth in squats, we’ll see much butter results.

    As far as the lifters are concerned, my hat goes of to the 105kg winner for a beastly 210kg bench (it looked so easy that I feared he might go for a double) and to the small Russian guy who owned the fuck out the deadlift (270kg at 59kg!). I since learned that he even deadlifts raw at equipped meets, which makes him all the more awesome.

  7. Glad you guys like the write-up. I’ll try to talk to more lifters next time, but this was kind of a last minute thing.

    I didn’t want to get too political about the IPF and judging, but I do see a purpose for the strictness. I will freely say that they were pretty strict across the board, and not JUST to the Americans, but since I was in “fan mode” for our boys (and girls), of course I’m going to be a little biased. However, keep in mind that with the new weight classes, the opportunity for records was rampant. There were AT LEAST 20 new WRs set. Had the judging gone the other direction and been too lax, many of the records would have possibly been questioned.

    This also brings to mind the first lesson of powerlifting I was ever taught: BURY YOUR OPENER. Something light (less than your 3RM), drop it deep, and get the judges to recognize that you will not be a problem child the rest of the meet. If it comes down to getting the benefit of the doubt, this can be huge.

    All that being said, our guys got robbed. GO USA. I am excited that raw lifting gets an international stage, and look forward to the next few years of development – and also fully plan on attending as a coach.

    Good reminders; everyone take heed.

    –Justin

  8. Hey Justin,

    I’ll be lifting in the 181 class. If you’ve got some time to handle me/be on the team I’ll be there. My pops will be snappin pics but he’s got no idea about lifting and my brother has school. I’m aiming to go to the arnold with a 400 wilks score at my last meet. Looking to improve a bit. Let me know

  9. Great writeup Cloud. Sucks that our guys had so much trouble with the judging. Why are the standards obviously different if the USAPL is part of the IPF?

  10. Been watching the video sporadically all day long, on breaks from work.
    Pretty cool that they posted the entire competition, so a n00b like me can see how it all works.
    It’s also really cool to see so many different techniques used by all the different competitors.

  11. For anybody wondering about my squats and not being able to tell from the front because its too deep to say its definitely high, the front judge red lighted both of my misses for depth.

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