Jaroslaw Olech Grabs his 18th Open World Title at the 2023 IPF WEC

Jaroslaw Olech is a renowned name in the world of equipped powerlifting, as he’s been a standout name for more than 30 years. His first-ever win was back at the 1997 European Junior Championships, and he won the IPF Junior World title for the first time that same year, 26 years ago.

But he didn’t stop there, and his legacy in the world of weightlifting is more than stellar. Prior to the 2023 IPF World Equipped Championships (WEC), he was already a 17-time world champion at the age of 49.

Along with that, he has lifted at the World Games three times, all of which led to gold medal finishes. To top it all off, the Polish powerlifter holds the IPF Open world record in the equipped squat – 370 kilograms and the equipped total is 908 kilograms.

At this year’s IPF World Equipped Championships, Jaroslaw was yet again aiming for the biggest glory after having lost the previous three editions to Norway’s Kjell Egil Bakklelund, but the Norwegian was absent from this year’s competition due to his desire to focus on raw lifting instead.

Of course, Olech saw the opportunity and managed to win his 18th Open world title, and he shared some of the highlights of the event on his personal Instagram profile.

Olech had a tough start to the competition, missing his opening 335-kilogram squat, but managed to recover straight away on his second attempt. And his third attempt of 345 kilograms was enough to get him the squat gold medal.

At the total competition, Alex Ochoa from Ecuador was leading by 2.5 kilograms, but Jaroslaw managed to get in the lead thanks to his 285-kilogram deadlift. From then on, it was impossible to catch up to Olech, who had a final 315-kilogram attempt for his final deadlift, which won him the 18th World title.