Arley Calderón conquered two golds at the Open Weightlifting Championship in Colombia

May 14, 2021

The Cuban Arley Calderón dominated this Tuesday the 61 kg division at the South American, Ibero-American and Open Championship Qualifying for the Tokyo Olympic Games, held in Cali, Colombia.

According to the results shown in the competition video, available on the Youtube social network, Calderón achieved silver in the snatch and titles in the clean and jerk and total.

The first movement was dominated by Spanish lifter Josué Brachi, with a mark of 121 kg, ahead of the Cuban (115 kg) and local Jairo Serna (100).

From then on the Caribbean lifter led, with figures of 149 kg in the clean and jerk and 264 kg in the biathlon. Brachi and Serna followed him on the podium with 142-263 and 130-230, respectively.

What Calderón did today falls short of what he lifted at the Pan American competition in Santo Domingo, just a few days ago, when he finished fourth in the first exercise, third in the second and in the biathlon.

That time he lifted 119 and 155 kilograms, for a total of 274 kilograms. Of course, the explanation should be in the strategy for a competition where the most important thing is to earn points for the ranking and not to raise the records.

After this competition, the qualifiers for the Tokyo event will be determined, in all cases by the world ranking and without the option for a country to have two lifters in the same division.

Marina Rodríguez (64 kg) and Olfides Sáez (89 kg) will take the platform in Cali on Thursday, while Melisa Aguilera (76 kg) and Juan Columbié (109 kg) will do so on Friday on the final date.

Columbié won Cuba's only titles at the Pan American competition held in late April on Dominican soil.