Beaufort teen keeps on smashing those world weightlifting championships

Beaufort weightlifting standout C.J. Cummings tasted sweet victory yet again this weekend.

Cummings, 17, claimed his fourth consecutive world title Sunday in Tokyo, Japan, successfully defending his previous International Weightlifting Federation Junior World Championship title.

Cummings went 2-for-3 in the Snatch, finishing fourth with a lift of 138 kilograms, or 304 pounds.

After the Snatch competition, he trailed the leader from Japan by 9 kilograms.

In a back-and-forth Clean and Jerk session, Cummings nailed his first attempt at 173 kilograms, or 381 pounds, and a second at 183 kilograms, or 403 pounds, giving him a total of 321 kilograms, or 708 pounds.

Cummings attempted to break his current Youth World Record in Clean and Jerk of 185 kilograms, or 408 pounds, but just missed the lift. Although he didn’t break his own record this year, Cummings earned two gold medals, one for Clean and Jerk and one for Total.

“It was wonderful to C.J. not only to win, but win under pressure,” USA Weightlifting CEO Phil Andrews said in a press release.

Cummings’ championship streak started in June 2016 at the Junior World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he became the first American to break a world youth record, and the first in 22 years to break a world record of any sort. He then won the 2016 IWF Youth World Championships in October in Penang, Malaysia, and defended his Youth World Championship by winning an April competition in Bangkok, Thailand.

In May 2016 at the U.S. Olympic trials in Utah, Cummings finished shy of a longshot goal of becoming the only American male weightlifter at the 2016 Olympics. His long-term target is now the 2020 Olympics, which will remain the ultimate focus as Cummings prepares for other meets and his daily duties as a student at Beaufort High School.

This story was originally published June 19, 2017 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Beaufort teen keeps on smashing those world weightlifting championships."