Windy City Beatdown – World Kettlebell Lifting Championships
Congratulations to the ICKB Girls for putting on their best performance to date at the World Kettlebell Lifting Championship in Chicago, IL yesterday!
Surya, Maya, Jess, and Sara (wearing their well deserved medals at the end of a long day) became the first group of women in the world to qualify for the 20kg Biathlon and Long Cycle.
They each won 1st place in their respective weight classes, while Surya won the Best Overall Lifter Award in the Women’s Long Cycle.
While JoJo comes to work for the IC every summer on break from Brown University, this time she was also committed to Kettlebell Sport along with the ICKB Team. With less than three months of training, she qualified for the Women’s 12kg Biathlon and then impressed everyone by pulling off 199 jerks on the platform in Chicago!
Svetlana Krechik from the Ukraine, Master of Sport World Class, displayed phenomenal technique in the 16kg snatch contest.
Cristal and Sara put on a strong performance for Team GiryaFit!
Jenny from Liberty RX earned her CMS rank in the biathlon while Kinga (in pink) represented our friends from Poland and NYC. Congratulations ladies!
Lorna Kleidman, 2x IGSF World Champion, was fierce as always placing 1st in her weight class in the 16kg Biathlon.
Master of Sport, Cate Imes, proves why she is the top female lifter in the country by taking the Best Overall Lifter Award in the Women’s Biathlon.
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The new WKC rules required a different game strategy with a renewed emphasis on symmetry as well as fatigue and energy systems management. Needless to say, this was their toughest competition to date going 10 minutes with a 20 kg kettlebell.
We’d like to thank all of the amazing competitors, spectators (thanks for coming Beth Huffman!), judges, and staff members for making this one of the most memorable Kettlebell Sport contests we’ve experienced. Sean and Maria Armstead did a wonderful job hosting this as well. Most importantly, we’d like to send our sincere gratitude to Valery Fedorenko and the WKC for funding and organizing such a world class event.
There’s a lot more action and news to report (including the men’s events, new world records, and the crowning of the only American to hold a Master of Sport rank in both Biathlon and Long Cycle, Marty Farrell). …but for now, here’s a sneak peek at Jess’ incredible performance jerking & snatching in the Women’s 20kg Biathlon next to Cate Imes:
Best,
Steven
ICKB team- beauty, grace, excellence, power! Congratulations to all on your accomplishments.
Congratulations to everyone!! Outstanding performances as usual.
I hope to be there you all next year!
Great work!!!
It was a “stone groove” as usual!! Amazing people doing crazy hard stuff,Really well !! You ladies have the best lifters very nervous right now!! I couldn’t be prouder!!
Amazing and awesome- all of the above and more- – poise and determination and heart ! Could you hear me cheering?
Great peformances, ladies! The ICKB Girls always show a lot of class. Nice job.
Congratulations to the Best Team and Personal Performance !
I’ve been really impressed!
Thank you girls!
Aleksandr Khasin,Reebok Sports Club/NY,AKC Lifting Coach.
P.S.When in NY,please be my Guests at Reebok SportsClub/NY
We’re so proud of you guys. You’re the best!!! Way to go. Can’t wait to see you.
XOXOXO
You ladies are awesome, awesome, awesome. It’s so great to see all of your hard work continue to pay off — gold medals across the board — Wow! Special shout out to Surya on the best overall lifter award. nice.
really inspiring.
ROCKSTARS! You go, lady bellers! I’m so impressed! Congrats and keep it up!
I continue to be awestruck by each of you, your power is amazing and your dedication is really inspiring!
Thank you, you make us all so proud!
Strong, beautiful and absolutely amazing women! Congratulations! We are all so proud of your dedication and accomplishments. Group hugs and cheers for ICKB team
Thank you all for supporting us. It was a very tough event with lots of things going crazy – so it’s great that our friends here and abroad were cheering for us. By the way, Surya put on a clinic!
Absolutely incredible. So beautiful, and strong!! What a bunch of rock stars.
As usual, a great turn out by some incredible people. Thanks for showing up.
Congratulations to everyone on their achievements! You guys are amazing.
What a fantastic showing! Congratulations on pulling these amazing results! Hope you got to enjoy the city a bit too
Great performances by all the Ice Chamber women. It was an honor to be on the platform with Jess. We’ve got our resolution and our pact. Train hard for Vegas my friends.
Thanks for the great post Steven and the awesome support by you and your team. you are true friends!
Steven and the ICKB team,
As usual you all put in outstanding performances. You are all truly nice people and it is always a pleasure to interact with you. Thanks for the support and coaching Steven.
Steven could you please shoot me an email when you get a free moment at schinabeck@yahoo.com.
As always thank you IC community for your unconditional support! It is a sincere honor to represent such a community of kind, inspiring, wonderful people. Coming to the IC each evening to train with all of you continues to be one the favorite parts of my day!
Thank you Cate for taking the time to come and speak with me when I needed it most. That poignant moment we all shared behind the platform is the highlight of my weekend!
Congrats Marty on your historic achievement- I felt very lucky to be in the house to witness such an amazing accomplishment!
Congrats to all the competitors! I was inspired by each one of your performances.
Finally, thank you to Valery Fedorenko, the WKC, all the judges, and of course our hosts Sean and Maria Armstead!
FABULOUS!!!
congrats to all of you!!! xo
Thank you IC community for your support! Your love and kindness is so inspiring.
Also big thanks to our coach Steve we are fortunate to have you!
Congrats Marty on your MS achievement-!!!! Savor it
Thanks Cate as always for your encouraging words and support I am honored to share the platform with you
Congrats to all the competitors what an amazing accomplishment to be able to compete at such an important meet
Finally, thank you to Valery Fedorenko, the WKC, all the judges, and of course our hosts Sean and Maria Armstead!
What an amazing weekend I am still soaking in all the events of this past weekend! We are very fortunate to have such an amazing community supporting us in our KB adventures so I thank all our IC & KB friends/family – we always hear you cheering us on…
It was very exciting watching all the amazing talent on the platform and all the hard work leading up to the World’s really showed. Cheers to Marty for achieving your rockstar MS status. I think we all cried a little when you hit your last rep.
Cate I have to agree with Surya that the time you took with us both pre & post set really mean’t more than you could ever imagine.
Thank you for all the people involved in putting the event on as it was a very classy event.
Looking forward to Vegas!!
You ladies really are like rock stars! I really admire your dedication and beautiful strength. So proud……look out Vegas, here come the IC Crew!
Thank you to everyone at the IC for continuing to provide the positive environment in which we all train everyday. You guys know how proud I am of this team–they kick my ass all over the place and I love it… and yet they are great students… humble and willing to experiment right along with me and Steve.
Jess, Sara and Surya, you gals are at the top of your game and it’s a privilege and truly exciting to see you advance in the sport, but also in mind, body and spirit. Congratulations on graduating to the 20 kgs division without injury or mental breakdown and with such power and grace. Thank you for bringing your best to your training every week. What amazing and dedicated athletes you have become for us all to learn from…
What I hope people learn from us as a team is that we are focused on improving our technique during every single training session and that we constantly recognize that we have a long way to go to in order to master these lifts… with lots more hard work ahead of us. The learning never ends.
Thank you to the AKC/WKC for this great event and for everything you guys continue to do to advance the sport and art of kettlebell lifting in the US.
You take a break from the blog for a couple of weeks and return to World Domination! Congratulations you strong, beautiful and tough women who inspire me even when I am not getting my ass kicked by one of you. You truly make a positive difference in my life and the lives of everyone at the IC and beyond.
Wow, I’m so proud of all of you. Congratulations!
Congratulations to everyone!
Gotta add my wow, ladies! You inspire me!
Fantastic job to all of yous!
Tough Sheilas!