International Girya Sport Federation was helding World Championship and open international tournament of Greece on girya sport 12-17 of October in Athens (Greece).

There competed more than 120 participants from 13 countries: Greece, Ukraine, Estonia, Russia, Poland, Uzbekistan, Italy, Ireland, Belarus, Kazakhstan, France, USA, Germany.

Ukraine won team competition and relay race too. Nice result showed by Srgiy Sylka (100 jerks and 130 snatches, bodyweight 65 kg) form Ukraine and Georgiadis Pylos (125 jerks and 163 snatches, bodyweight over 90 kg.) from Greece.

IGSG conference was held during this championship. They elected a new president. Yury Scherbina will be president again.

Name of competition :  ''Biathlon competition - Bjelovar open 2011''
Date:  01. 10. 2011.
Place: Bjelovar, CROATIA

Organizer: Kettlebell team ''Bjelovar'' under the EGSA organization

Number of competitors:  59 (21 girls + 38 guys)

Number of teams: 11 (kettlebell team Bjelovar, giryatrija Zagreb, kettlebell team Sparta, giryatrija remiza, sd kettlebells, girevix, PKC, Bulgaria team, GS Serbia, DSGV eV., Killkenny Kettlebell club)

Number of countries: 7  (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Ireland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Germany)

Competition was helad on 5 platforms in biathlon. First was jerk and after that, snatch.

Results>>

IUKL World Championship was held in Nanuet (NY, USA) last weekend. It was great kettlebell event for United States. There were a lot of participants from 12 countries: USA, Canada, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Australia, Estonia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, England,  Croatia and Ukraine.

Men competed in biathlon (jerk and snatch) and long cycle with 24 kg and 32 kg kettlebells. Women competed in snatch with 16 and 24 kg kettlebells. Russian team won the cup of this championship.

IUKL president Imants Lochmels said he likes conditions for athletes and Yury Petunov, main helder of this championship said they will held many different IUKL competitions in US in future.

Johann Martin is weightlifting and kettlebell lifting coach from Hamburg (Germany). He brought strong guys on European championship among youths, where they performed well and took their places on the podium.
 
August 27 in Hamburg, was held first championship in Germany according to the IUKL rules.
There were about 20 athletes, 11 of them came from different lands. The results are not so good, but it was the important step for development of kettlebell lifting in Germany. Competition were organized at the highest level. It made a good impression for participants and spectators, attract the press.
 
Now they in Germany have not a lot of good athletes to form national team for European and World championships. But we hope to see German national team on the next international championships and tournaments.

You can see protocols on our website... (results section)

European kettlebell championship among youths was held from July 30 to August 1 in Ventspils (Latvia).
Russian national team won first team place.

Judging was like adults athletes, according all international rules. Aleksey Malinin (Russia) speaks about judging: "The judging was a rigorous ... especially in the relay! We had two judges – one look at the bottom lock, the other on top. Probably that's why we were not able to set  a new record of relay".
 
There competed six countries: Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia and Russia.

Together with the youth championship “Ventspils Atlants” tournament was held, which was attended members of the same six countries as well as representatives of Norway, Finland and Australia.

Open European Cup of kettlebell lifting was held on June 25 in Chelyabinsk (Russia). The competition had two classes of participants: the class "amateur" - kettlebells 24 kg (and 16 for girls), and "professionals" - 32kg (and 24 for girls). Winners of "absolutely category" among the professionals got extra prizes (total $6000).

Not only european participants competed in Chelyabinsk. There were two representatives of "Ice Chamber" club (USA) - Steven Khuong and Surya Voinar-Fowler.
 
Russian national team won the team competition.
Winners in the "absolutely categories":
Women (snatch, 24 kg) - Olga Yaremenko (166 reps, bodyweight 58 kg).
Men (32 kg):
Long cycle - Alexey Shishlov (74 reps, bodyweight 78 kg)
Biathlon - Anton Anasenko (jerk 161, snatch 195, bodyweight 85 kg).
 
10 Russian athletes showed result of MSWC rank. They have to make the dope test (urine sample). 27 samples were taken by RUSADA agency.

This week final of Russian championship was held in Tumen’. There are over 150 participants from 34 regions. There are many new great records.

A few results from this champ:
-    Sergey Merkulin – long cycle – 75 reps (w.c. 73 kg)
-    Jonny Benidze – jerk – 137 reps (w.c. 63 kg)
-    Ilya Tashlanov – jerk – 138 reps (w.c. 73 kg)
-    Olga Eryomenko – snatch – 158 reps (w.c. 58 kg)
-    Anastasiya Zolotaryova – snatch – 163 reps (w.c. +68kg)

Now all champions will be members of Russian national team on the next IUKL world championship in New York.

Many Russian athletes will compete on European cup (in Chelyabinsk, June 25). Not only members of national team can compete there. There will be near 100 Russian competitors. Welcome and you!

17 lifters from the whole of Denmark and one German made the effort to turn up and challenged themselves at a sport they never really  tried before, for most of them.
 
Arhus Kettlebell Long Cycle was arranged by Thierry Sanchez on Saturday 19 March 2011. There were 2 disciplines none of which were traditional GS. (rules explanation at the bottom
 
Rules were made to be as accessible as possible to any kettlebell enthusiast. No weight classes and coefficients for the bell weight.
People lifting the heavier bells were in that way rewarded, but anyone was free to use the size they wanted, more or less.
The local TV showed up, and in all about 40 people were watching and cheering.
 
Everybody who tried the 5 minute event lasted the full set, except one woman who lost the bell with only 30 seconds to go.
10 guys gave the 32kg kettlebell a go with the 3 minute Barbarian sprint event, but only Sif Skov Hansen (Who went to IGSF in Milano 2010) participated in the sprint.
One guy turned up to try kettlebells for the first time in his life, and he did both disciplines.
 
In Denmark hardly anyone knows or train GS, but this event was really succesful! Only the day before  was kettlebell sport demonstrated on national TV for the first time ever in Denmark, with a 2 minute sprint and some power juggling.
 
Rules:
The 5 minute Long cycle consist of a clean followed by a jerk. However, any kind of press or push press is allowed. Bells must not be placed on the floor but resting in a hang position  is also allowed. Resting on the shoulders is not allowed.
Proper lockout (knees and elbows straight, body at a standstill) must be demonstrated for the rep to be valid.
3 failed reps in a row terminate the set. Placing the bell(s) on the floor terminates the set.
Women are allowed 1 change of hand during the 5 minutes. The free hand may not assist in any way.
Guys can choose 2x16,2x20 or 2x24kg. Women can choose 8, 12 or 16kg.
Coefficient are used to reward people lifting with heavier bells.
 
The Barbarian Clean and freestyle press is a one arm/ one kettlebell sprint  with limited rules.
You are allowed to change hands as many times as possible, and even set the bell on the floor.
You just have to lock the kettlebell overhead in anyway you want and bring it back down again between your legs.  Snatch is not allowed. That's about it.
3 minutes with 32kg for men and 20kg for women.
 
Winner is calculated as follow: Kettlebell weight x coefficient x reps / bodyweight

8.1.2011, Pisarovina Croatia

Kettlebell Team Giryatrija decided to organize a LongCycle competition early in 2011. Since there is a new association, called European Girevoy Sport Association and was designed for amateur athletes, that wants to improve and compete as many times as possible under same association and not think themselves as professionals.

First of all, I have to congratulate the whole Giryatrija Team athletes for putting up a great scene. I did not participate in preparations, because I leave in Slovenia, and I felt sorry about it a little bit, but on the other hand, it was the first time, that everything was waiting for me. And I was amazed by the way everything was prepared.

Platforms with sponsors in the back, a lot of space for warming up, lots of chalk, radio, speaker, national television, professional photographer, medals for each discipline, trophy for the most perspective lifter, counting boards, clocks.... you name it, it was there.

Nenad Goricki, the president of Giryatrije Kettlebell Team was doing the speaking all the time, judges did their job professionally and everything went through fluently.

First biggest change in EGSA competition is, that there is only one winner per weight of Kettlebell. Winner is decided by coefficient... So, if there are two athletes on same Kettlebel weight and they both do the same number of reps, lighter one wins. I think this way athletes will go all out on every competition, because in other associations there can be 10 or even 15 different weight classes with different weights, and at the end everyone gets home with gold medal.
That way even a lighter lifter stands a chance to win against a heavier one, which I think is fair enough and brings a Girevoy Sport to a higher level.

Today we'll talk with the strongest kettlebell lifter of our planet, world-class athlete, the champion of Russia and the World - Ivan Denisov. Ivan is absolute record holder in all exercises in kettlebell lifting: 175 reps in jerk (World Championship, Moscow, 2005), snatch 110 (World Championship, Latvia, October 2003) and the most recent record that he brought from Finland just over a week ago - 116 reps in long cycle.

- Good morning, Ivan. We congratulate you with a new world record! Previous record was 7 reps less than your new result. What are your impressions of the results and of the championship in general?

- Impressions are very diverse. It is a pity that we were not able to see and do pictures of Finish cities - we were short in time. And bus trips are not my favorite. However, the conditions of the competition were good for showing high results. The air temperature in the gym, the quality of kettlebells was most favorable for the performance. I am very pleased and happy with my result. I had a very good preparation for this competition. Strong training, good recovery before competition, cool fresh air at the gym, and comfortable form of kettlebells - all these factors contributed to the performance. I went out to the platform with one thought: "I must work." And I was able to do it. I realized that I'll beat the record after about 8 minutes of my set. And I was working very confidently in last minutes. I understood that I succeeded, when the kettlebells were on the platform.

- This year you competed again after a two-year break. How was this time without competing? Was it hard to get back to a platform again?

- A two-year break was only for big events. I have performed on lower level competitions. I have consistently participated in the city competitions of basketball, and various crosses. However, the march on the big stage has been somewhat forgotten. To increase interest and adrenaline I reduced my weight by 8 kg, and was classified for "up to 105 kg" category. I had a heavy workload in the past two years. I have worked out with barbell, ran, and skied. I became much stronger than two years ago.

- Ivan, you're not only a great athlete you are a very good coach, too. Your students - Ksenia Dedyukhina, Denis Gafarov, Artem Gizzatullin - have raised to the higher pedestal competitions of different levels. Ilya Tashlanov moved to Chelyabinsk and now he has not only improved his result, but also become one of the leaders of the Russian national team. How do you manage to combine training and coaching activities, both at such a high level?

- If I was just an athlete and a coach, then I would manage to do everything, and time would remain. But I'm also the chief of the Kettlebell Lifting Federation of Chelyabinsk and Chelyabinsk region. In fact, it's simple - I like it, and I possess it. I try train together with my students while coaching them. And I have very good students. I try to create favorable conditions for their trainings, and they in turn show all they are capable for.

Last weekend in Tampere (Finland) was held World Championship of IUKL. There were 10 teams from different countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Sweden, Croatia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine and England.

The level of competition was very high, many participants showed great results. For example representative of Russia Ivan Denisov set new world record in long cycle. His result is 116 reps! It's really great result!

In team competition won Russian team. Russian team won competition among juniors too.

Relay was very interesting part of competitions for audience. Every participant should jerk kettlebells 3 minutes. Every team have 5 participants. Best result showed Russian team again.

We congratulate all participants with their results and wish you to show best result next time. Thanks for Finnish organizers.

On November 4th-7th the World Kettlebell Championship was held in Milano Italy, this was hosted by the IGSF (international girevoy sports federation). The main organizator of this championship is Oleh Ilika who is a world class master of sport himself.

The event was attended by 20 countries and had over 150 athletes competing, this was the biggest attendance this championships has had so far. The events where traditional biathlon for men with 32kg and women snatch with 16kg. There was also an open section (Italian open) for men in traditional biathlon with 16kg or 24kg and women with 8kg and 12kg. the event also had categories for juniors (under 23 years) and veterans (over 40 years). and also 1min/2min/3min sprints with jerk and snatch.

Day 1 started with weigh in at the Ramada hotel, all athletes had from 9am-5pm to get weighed in and registered, that evening we all met at the sports arena and there was a formal opening ceremony, this was a very professional event and allot of work had gone into making this a world class competition. Each country had flags and was assigned a person to carry there name of the country out with them as we paraded out into the main floor. There was good sportsmanship throughout the comp with all athletes and countries applauding each country as they where announced.

This was then followed by speeches by Oleh and other representatives, unfortunately everything was either in Italian or Russian and so it did leave those speaking English a little lost, but this was to be expected. However it was a problem when it came to getting information on when events and times athletes would be on, and also we where unsure of exactly how the scoring was calculate, and how exactly the groups where divided. I would certainly suggest that next year they have a printed timetable with events and times on it to give athletes an approximate time and day of when they will competing, due to inability to get information by English speaking representatives there was allot of confusion on what events will be held on what day and this seemed to change constantly, this left countries like Ireland, Slovenia, Croatia, USA, Denmark who's only medium to communicate was in English at a complete loss of what is going on. However this was only a very small detail and the very professional well set up venue is something that i hope IGSF is very proud off, Oleh was an incredible host who was very welcoming and went out of his way to help athletes whether it be in registering or behind the scenes with actual kettlebell lifting, he was and is a very good example of a true master of his sport!!! His energy must be limitless for the amount of work he had to do, and by the end of the event the only sign of this on him was his inability to talk as he lost his voice from the constant talking over the last few days.

The 2nd day started with men's traditional biathlon and it was jerk with 32kg first. starting with the lighter males moving up until the heavier men at 90kg+
This event saw many great athletes, with some big numbers being put on the board. Paulos Georgiadis did 131 jerks which was the top score for 32kg jerk and 165 snatches. There where many levels of athletes from WCMS competing to new athletes competing for the first time, Eddie Sheehan from kilkenny kettlebell club was a new athlete to a world championships and the first male from Ireland to ever compete in world championships with 32kg, he did well with a personal best of 65 jerks and 111 snatches, he was only 4 reps from his MS in IGSF rankings. Mark Stapleton also from kilkenny kettlebell club, Ireland and the only other male from Ireland to have ever competed at a 32kg level (Berlin open 2010) competed at the 24kg category and did a personal best with 102 jerks and 107 snatches and attained his CMS level with IGSF rankings. At the moment Mark and Eddie are the only two athletes from Ireland that have and can compete at this level.

There was some big numbers thrown out by the women in the 16kg snatch event like Ivana Britvec head coach of the Croatian team (giryatrija-kettlebell team Zagreb) who did a personal best of 204 snatches. There where many famous coaches that attended this event like Pantelei Filikidi who also competed in the veterans event and did 123 jerks and 211 snatchs with 24kg, and Gregor Sobocan who recently did him MS numbers under WKC, he had many athletes from Slovenia, Croatia, Ireland. and who has started up a new EUROPEAN GIREVOY SPORTS ASSCOIATION and this was the first professional championships that his new association and athletes got to show what they can do.

Day 3 had events like the open biathlon for men and snatch for women where held, also veterans event in biathlon, this was followed by medal and award ceremony.

The National Standings for the World Championship are:

1.UKRAINE
2.TATARSTAN
3.ITALY
4.RUSSIA
5.SLOVENIA
6.REPUBLIK OF BELARUS
7.USA
8.IRAN
9.DENMARK
10.KAZAKHSTAN
11.CROATIA
12.GREECE
13.LATVIA
14.POLAND
15.FRANCE
16.IRELAND
17.GREAT BRITAIN
18.UZBEKISTAN
19.ESTONIA
20.GERMANY
Individuals can be found soon online through the IGSF website.

Thanks to Mark Stapleton for the info (Kilkenny, Ireland, www.kilkennykettlebellclub.com).