25 November 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A 20-year-old McPherson native came home with lots of hardware from the IWF World Junior Weightlifting Championships on Monday.
EJ Hein is the reigning USA Junior Champion. He clinched gold at the national meet back in June. That win qualified him to compete in Guadalajara for the World Championship, which was the first international competition of his career.
Hein competed in the 89kg weight class and took home three medals. He won silver in the snatch, hitting 158kg (348lbs). The attempt was just 1kg under the winning weight.
In his next event, the clean and jerk, Hein hit 193kg (425lbs). That was good for gold. He also won the overall gold medal for his weight class.
“It didn’t really hit me until we did the medal ceremony because they only play the winner’s national anthem, so that one got some tears going for sure,” said Hein.
Hein first picked up the barbell about seven years ago. After winning at his first state championship, he realized his potential to go further in the sport.
Hein credits much of his drive to his former coach at Mactown Crossfit in McPherson.
“He taught me so much not just about how to approach the sport but how to coach yourself, how to program, how to feel things for yourself and just gave me the mindset to do what I need to do that day,” said Hein.
Hein now trains in Norman, Oklahoma where he attends college. His goals in the weightroom extend far into his future.
I’d be lying if I said the goal wasn’t looking towards the Olympics here in a couple years but there’s a lot of things that need to happen between now and then but it definitely opens some doors and kind of gives me some more confidence to go after those dreams,” he explained.
Hein’s gold in Guadalajara has qualified him to attend more international meets. He says he’s looking forward to competing in those as well.