In an attempt to make potential projections for Ilya Ilyin’s potential Tokyo 2020 performance I thought it would be a good idea to start tracking his progress during his return in 2019. Ilya Ilyin entered 2019 lifting a fraction of his
*I will be continually updating this over the coming months and years.*
Videos of Ilya’s current biggest lifts will always be posted directly below the Comeback Tracker.
| Date | Snatch | C&J |
| 01/22/19 | 130 kg | – |
| 01/25/19 | – | 160 kg |
| 01/28/19 | – | 170 kg |
| 02/15/19 | 160 kg | 190 kg |
| 02/23/19 | 165 kg | – |
| 02/23/19 | 170 kg | – |
Ilya’s Best Results – Training and Competition (timeline)
| Type | Weight | Snatch | C&J | Total | Where |
| Training (13 y/o) | 69 kg | 105 | 142 | 247 | Training Hall |
| Competition (14 y/o) | 69 kg | 117 | 165.5 | 282.5 | 2003 Asian Youth |
| Competition (15 y/o) | 85 kg | 142 | 185 | 327 | 2004 Asian Youth |
| Training (17 y/o) | 92 kg | 182 | 222 | 404 | Training Hall |
| Competition (17 y/o) | 85 kg | 170 | 216 | 386 | 2005 World Champs |
| Competition | 94 kg | 181 | 226 | 407 | 2011 World Champs |
| Training | 94 kg | 196 | 240 | 436 | Training Hall |
| Training | ~ 94 kg | 200 blocks | – | – | Training Hall |
| Competition* | 94 kg | 185 | 233 | 418 | 2012 Olympics |
| Competition | 105 kg | 191 | 246 | 437 | 2015 President’s Cup |
| Training | 105 kg | 201 floor, 205 blocks | 250 Clean | Training Halls |
*Result no longer recognised by IWF
Bio
Ilya Ilyin (05/24/88) is a weightlifter from Kazakhstan. Ilya is one of the greatest weightlifters ever, is the most dominant weightlifter of the 21st Century, and holds the 29th highest Sinclair of all time.
Ilya Ilyin, who remains undefeated in his career, won the Youth Asian Championships twice in both 2003 and 2004 in the 69 kg and 85 kg weight class respectively. Ilya won his first senior World Championships in Doha 2005 aged just 17 where he snatched 170 kg and clean and jerked 216 kg. Ilya went on to win 4 world championships across 3 different weight classes – 2005 at 85 kg, 2006 at 94 kg, 2011 at 94 kg, 2014 at 105 kg. Amidst these wins Ilya went on to win the senior Asian Games in 2006 and 2010.
Despite winning the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics Ilya lost his gold medals after testing positive retroactively for the banned substances dehydrochloromethyltestosterone and stanozolol.
Ilya’s greatest performance by way of Sinclair came at the 2015 President’s Cup in Grozny where Ilya broke the -105 kg class world records in the clean and jerk and total with a 191 kg/ 246 kg/ 437 kg performance.
Having served his ban, Ilya continues to train and compete in the hopes of winning the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Kazakhstan can only take one male weightlifter to Tokyo. I wonder if they will select Ilya even if the rankings indicate that one of their other men (likely Nijat Rahimov or Arli Chontey) has a better chance of a medal.
There may also be some pressure from the IOC/IWF to select someone who hasn’t served a drugs ban due to testing positive at two previous Olympics…