ST. CLOUD (WJON News) - A St. Cloud athlete is now a world champion after placing in an international weightlifting competition earlier this month.

Darin Vossen took home gold for his age group and weight class at the IWF Masters Weightlifting World Championships in Orlando, Florida back in December 7th.

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Vossin says his decision to compete in the world championships came last spring, after competing in the national championships.

After winning their, I told myself while that was my ultimate goal, I looked at the numbers from the 2021 world championship and felt I was capable of beating those numbers and deciding to give it one last run.

Vossen says competitors are scored in two different lifting events.

The first lift is the snatch, which is where you take the barbell from the ground all the way over your head in one movement. The other is the clean and jerk where you take the barbell from the ground to your shoulders, reset and then go from your shoulders to over your head. You get three attempts at both lifts and you get a total combined weight from your two best lifts.

Vossen finished his day by lifting 227 pounds in the snatch, and 275 pounds in the clean and jerk, for a total of 513 pounds - which were new National records for his class (masters men’s 147pounds, 40-44 years old).

He says with his goals achieved he now plans to retire from competitive weightlifting and plans to coach his two sons at the high school level.

Vossen was one of two local athletes who competed in an international weightlifting event this month.

Keven Morals finished 8th in the North American Open Finals in Atlanta, Georgia. His next goal is to move on to the Pacific American Open in Argentina next year.

Both Darin and Keven coach Olympic lifting at Omni Training Facility every week for anyone interested in trying it out or improving their technique.

 

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