Beaufort's Cummings earns redemption at Junior Worlds

When Beaufort's C.J. Cummings had a disastrous day in April at the International Weightlifting Federation Youth World Weightlifting Championships in Lima, Peru, completing just one of his six attempts, Team Beaufort and Team USA coach Ray Jones wrote the word "RESILIENT" on the white board in the weight room.

"When you get knocked down, you get up and come back stronger than ever," Jones said then in an email. "C.J. has eight weeks to prepare for the Junior Worlds in Poland. C.J. WILL BE RESILIENT! So proud of his effort and fight."

Fast forward to the IWF Junior World Championships on Monday in Wroclaw, Poland.

One word from Jones' email, "REDEMPTION," said it all.

Cummings, who turned 15 on Saturday, completed a 125 kg snatch and a 170 kg clean and jerk for a total of 295 kg to take silver in the B session of the 69 kg weight class.

The 170 kg clean and jerk, roughly equivalent to 374 pounds, set an American record by 14 kg and is only 3 kg shy of the Youth World Record of 173 held by Firidun Guliyev of Azerbaijan.

Cummings is eligible to compete as a youth for roughly two more years, putting that world record well within reach. He also will have a shot at the world record -- 182 -- at the next weight class, 77 kg.

Along with a video of Cummings' record-setting lift, the website Hookgrip, an Olympic-style weightlifting site, posted on its Facebook page this statement: "This level of weightlifting (taking into account body weight, age and amount) is unprecedented for an American lifter -- amazing!"

In April at the Youth Worlds, Cummings, the top-ranked American youth lifter, was unsuccessful in all three attempts to lift 118 kg in the snatch, putting him out of the running for the overall title in the 69-kilogram weight class.

He did successfully clean and jerk 150 kg in his first attempt but failed in two attempts to lift 157 kg, resulting in a fifth-place finish at the event.

According to Jones, Cummings came down with the flu during training, resulting in the rare poor performance.

"He was so ready a week before leaving for Peru to the YW," Jones said in an email Monday. "Then having the flu virus messed all that up ..... BUT NOW :-)"

Follow sports editor Mike McCombs at twitter.com/IPBGSports .

This story was originally published June 9, 2015 at 12:34 AM with the headline "Beaufort's Cummings earns redemption at Junior Worlds."