Worth the weight weightlifting
Truro man sets new provincial records at national meet
A Truro weightlifter has set three provincial records at his first national competition.
Jevan McNutt finished fifth out of eight competitors in his weight class at the Canadian Junior Weightlifting Championships Jan. 14 in Brossard, Que.
Competing in the 85 kg class, the 18-year-old snatched 103 kilograms and clean and jerked 128 kg for a combined total of 231.
“Fifth in all the country – I’m really happy,” said McNutt after returning to Nova Scotia. “I had no idea going into it how I was going to do but at the end of the day I am happy.”
The snatch and the clean and jerk are both total body strength exercises and together are known as Olympic weightlifting.
For the snatch, the athlete lifts the barbell from the floor to overhead in one continuous motion. For the clean and jerk, the athlete first lifts the barbell from the floor to rest on their shoulders before dipping slightly and then extending the knees, explosively throwing the barbell up so the lifter can get under it with straight arms and eventually straight legs.
McNutt first became interested in the sport of Olympic weightlifting through Crossfit Hubtown. He joined the gym in Truro Heights in January 2015 to build strength for hockey.
“I thought it looked cool, it was different from anything any of my friends were doing,” said McNutt. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s more than working out. A lot of these people here are like family now.”
Crossfit is a brand of fitness training focused on high-intensity, functional movements like aerobic exercise, body weight exercises, and Olympic weightlifting.
At his first weightlifting competition in the fall of 2015, McNutt was happy to make all six of his lifts – three in each category and he started training more seriously.
“I stopped playing hockey and really started paying attention to what I was eating and getting proper rest,” he said. “I started to realize what I’m doing outside the gym affects what I’m doing in the gym.”
McNutt qualified for nationals at the Maritime Weightlifting Open last Sept. 24 in Moncton with 100 kg snatch and 122 clean and jerk.
He didn’t know what he needed to lift to qualify for nationals and even though he won his weight class, he was disappointed.
“I only completed two of my six lifts so I wasn’t too happy,” he said. “I had bigger numbers before and I knew I could have done better.”
Training last fall was complicated by a sore wrist. He dropped out of provincials in October because of it but kept training for nationals.
At nationals he “tweaked” his wrist again in the warm-up but not enough to drop out.
He went light on his first snatch and recorded 100 kg. He added a conservative three kilograms for the second lift but couldn’t make it because of the wrist. On his third lift, he completed 103 kg despite the injury.
For the clean and jerk he lifted 125 kg first try, then maxed out at 128 kg on his second and then failed to lift 131 on his last attempt.
In so doing he reset his own Nova Scotia records in all three categories.
His coach, Amanda Thompson, of Crossfit Hubtown, says it was incredible to watch him perform.
“This was our first experience at a national-level competition and it was incredible how he handled all this,” she said. “We had a couple delays on Saturday, he was sitting all day and then when we got him psyched up, there was a delay and he had to wait – that’s tough for any athlete to perform in that situation.”
Thompson says more and more people are rediscovering the sport of Olympic weightlifting.
Nova Scotia had four athletes at junior nationals, the biggest team in years.
Kirsten Angus of Bedford won a bronze medal in the women’s 69-kg class, Nova Scotia’s first national weightlifting medal in decades.
Emma Dean, also of Bedford, set three provincial records in the women’s 58 kg class and finished tenth.
McNutt plans to relax his training now that nationals are over so that his wrist can heal properly.
The next provincial weightlifting meet for McNutt is at the end of March. Halifax will host nationals next year.
“I’ll definitely be competing,” says McNutt. “But I’ll probably be in the next weight class up (94 kg).”