Franklin junior Kloie Doublin wasn’t too happy about finishing second in the girls 400-meter dash at the Johnson County track & field meet last week.
She just had to settle for a world championship instead.
Doublin, who weighs 157 pounds, benched 102.5 kilograms (226 pounds) during her third and final round to easily outdistance the rest of the 72-kilogram subjunior field at the Women’s World Classic bench press championships in Killeen, Texas, over the weekend.
“This was my first international gold medal,” Doublin said, “so I was pumped about that. Hopefully, there will be more.”
Doublin’s 226-pound press was not only 33 pounds better than that of runner-up Sandra Augustiniok of Germany, but it was also a personal best and set a new American record in her class.
Her dominating performance earned her the overall Best Lifter award, given to the competitor with the best lift-to-body weight ratio across all subjunior (birth years 1999 and later) weight classes.
Though she already had first place well in hand heading into her third lift, Doublin said she took a shot at 226 in order to lock up the Best Lifter honor.
“We had a range of numbers we were going to hit,” she said. “We weren’t going to go any higher than (226).”
Two other locals competed at the event in the junior division. Shelby Miles, a Franklin grad now studying at Indiana University, placed second in the 84-kilogram weight class, while Franklin senior Jennica Baldridge was third at 63 kilograms.
Doublin will return to competing on the track for the remainder of the spring while also gearing up for the World Powerlifting Championships, which will take place in Minsk, Belarus, in June.
