Penticton’s Charlie Fornelli found himself on the podium twice for Canada in the Kettlebell Lifting World Championships Nov. 21-23 in Hamburg, Germany. In his first event, Fornelli was seventh, and in the second event, he took third. Fornelli competed in the 85 kilogram category lifting two 32-kg kettlebells. He was also the lone male from Canada, which featured USA members, competing to make the podium in either of the two events.
Penticton’s Kathryn Golbeck and Slava Petlitsa of the Okanagan Valley Kettlebells also qualified to compete for Canada but were unable to attend. The competition attracted more than 500 competitors from over 30 countries.
The kettlebell sport is similar to olympic lifts but athletes compete for endurance rather than lifting the largest amount of weight. There are three main lifts which make up the two events with each being a scored on a maximum number of repetitions in 10 minutes at a set kettlebell weight. One event is the biathlon made up of the kettlebell jerk and snatch and the other being long cycle made up of the kettlebell clean and jerk lifts.
Next year the world championships will be in Dublin, Ireland and the three members of Okanagan Valley Kettlebells will be vying for a spot on an even more competitive Team Canada against the world’s best lifters. Selection for Team Canada will be at the National Kettlebell Championships in Edmonton July 2015.