Mexico City and Cartagena to host Worlds and Americas Champs

“What we have achieved through Mexico City 2015 is to bring a high-level international powerlifting competition to the Americas for the first time.

IPC Powerlifting announced on Wednesday (29 April) that Mexico City will host the 2017 World Championships, alongside Cartagena, Colombia, which will stage the 2018 IPC Powerlifting Americas Championships.

The contract signings represent a huge boost to the legacy of powerlifting and para-sport in general in the Americas, after Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the first Paralympic Games in South America in 2016.

Following the Closing Ceremony of the first IPC Powerlifting Open Americas Championships in Mexico City where the announcement was made, Jon Amos, IPC Powerlifting Sport Technical Committee Chairperson said:

“What we have achieved through Mexico City 2015 is to bring a high-level international powerlifting competition to the Americas for the first time.

“This represents a massive step forward not just for the sport, but for the athletes, federations and National Paralympic Committees who previously have not had the opportunity to compete in their region.

“We can now build on this success and I look forward to working with the organisers of Mexico City 2017 and Cartagena 2018 to do just that.”

Mexico City 2017 is expected to attract 360 athletes from 65 countries and follows the 2014 World Championships in Dubai, UAE, where 10 world records were set by over 330 athletes from 60 countries. It will be the seventh edition of the competition.

Cartagena 2018 will see 150 lifters from 25 countries compete in the build-up to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Around 120 lifters from 21 countries rounded off competition at the Americas Open on Wednesday, with one world and seven Americas records set over four days of competition.