Jesse Nykänen totally destroyed national record in snatch on the platform.
Lumi Kononen is Finland`s squat jerk queen!
Lumi celebrating the victory in W69 kilos, she won by one kilo!
Keep pulling! Manuel Cavrag showing how to pull.
Southern Regional Championships was a true delight and featured EPIC lifts and battles! I was there for the whole competition taking photos and videos. You can purchase these from me, and I will be dropping many of the lifts on my YouTube channel. Same goes for Junior Nationals — I’ve got some comp lifts from there too, dropping regularly on my YouTube and on the Finnish Weightlifting Federation’s YouTube as well, since I’m doing a collaboration with them on those videos. I also dropped some photos from Southern Regionals into the competition album, so go check that out. I kinda had a flow in photography, really liked what I got on film.
I am giving out a recognition award called Sisu Lifters to my chosen lifters. It is for those who were battling injuries etc. this season. Because making a comeback even when everything is against you… that takes guts, courage, and determination to overcome difficulties. I think these are characteristics that ALL lifters have, but they really show when every plan unfolds, you didn’t make the cut, didn’t get into the team or that big comp — but you still kept going. That is the kind of athletic spirit we need to recognize, and thus the SISU Award was born. I will announce the Sisu Lifters of this year on 26.9.
Oh, some big news coming up soon about something new I’m working on to delight the weightlifting fans of Finland. It will tell a story of weightlifting’s rise in recent years, but that’s all I’m saying for now. And I’ve been thinking about a merch shop for fans too, in collaboration with athletes. This is still a very raw idea and needs to be looked into properly, but the concept would be that you could buy your favourite lifter’s shirt — designed by the athlete. And the athlete would get revenue from it. And of course some Fygstermedia designs too, perhaps.
Some info about the weightlifting federation: we have a new head of the organization, Antti Everi, and new board members. The lineup is looking good, and I do believe these individuals are willing to work towards the future of Finnish weightlifting. And about the slightly scandalous thing regarding Article 6.4 in the IWF — one of their rule changes was CLEARLY misunderstood by some people in weightlifting and used as a negative tool to attack certain individuals and push an agenda to break down the federation’s organizational structure. PLEASE do NOT spread this kind of misinformation on social media! CHECK the facts before making a scene about it. This only makes the people behind the misinformation look incapable and unprofessional.
Furthermore, the federation’s fall meeting — which was about choosing the new leader and board members — had some quite serious issues caused by one individual who made long monologues about the federation’s new coach education program. Many said it was weird, since the meeting was NOT about that topic at all. And this individual has, in past years, been showing off with the very group that worked on the new program, claiming he was part of that group. Yet in this fall meeting he was bashing the new program and making statements about it, even though he has been part of that volunteer education group! He was saying a lot of things that really don’t have any factual basis. I have seen the new education program myself, and I attended it to write an article and took comments from people who paid and participated. They all said it is more professional, more educational, and more science‑based than the old program.
And that’s not the end of this individual’s scandal in that meeting. There was a video many saw on social media, published by this monologue individual. He claimed he was threatened to be killed and that some “revolver guys” were involved. This kind of claim crosses into criminal territory. So I contacted people who were at the meeting — there was NO threat to this individual’s life. There was an incident where somebody had had enough of his monologues and said something disturbing, but NO threat was made. I think this was just… I don’t know. This individual has a habit of not speaking the truth and spreading drama and false accusations. Maybe trying to rally people behind him.
This phenomenon occurred due to problems in the federation’s leadership change earlier this spring. Now a few individuals have started a smear campaign against clubs and especially people who spoke about the rules and regulations in the federation and wanted to change what was going on inside it. But for these few individuals targeting people and clubs, their only weapon seems to be spreading false accusations, mis‑ and disinformation, trying to make others look bad. It is a failing attempt — and if one has to make up lies to support their agenda… well, that really doesn’t last, does it now?
Meanwhile Fygstermedia want`s to keep up the good work for the sports and athletes, and let`s keep the lifts coming up!
I am currently trying to compose prewievs from entrylist abou Junior Euro`s. So, that will come up some time before competition, and we have Masters nationals for us younger msters coming too in few weeks and Masters World`s are on going. Finland has takeng medals from the worlds and I think more is on the way, we have a strong and competitive masters lifter community. I think we should offer more to master lifters too, more camps with professional coaches and support the masters community with workshops and stuff like that. My own training is going well, but I am in no shape to attend the nationals, besides I dont think that I right now would even have a change to medal there, so i am staying in the training for now.