I only got one word for this-ouch! Actually, I have several more words for this, but “ouch” is the best one that can describe the accident.
Yaroslav Radoshkevich is a Russian powerlifter, whose weight class I am yet to confirm, but it looks like he is in a sub 100kg weight class. Regardless, Yaroslav was competing in World Raw Powerlifting Eurasian Championship in Khabarovsk, Russia over the weekend.
From the reports, the opening weight for the squat was 250 kg. Yaroslav allegedly tried this weight twice and couldn’t quite get a good rhythm going on it. Regardless, he is a Russian and a powerlifter, which means he doesn’t take no as an answer. His third attempt was the fatal one, as he began the descent into a squat, his right leg buckled and went snap crackle and pop
A quick medical examination showed that he suffered a double closed fracture of his shinbone and a complete fracture of his ankle. Luckily the young man was rushed to the hospital to have his right leg surgically repaired. A complete and total recovery is expected in a time frame of six months. Further analysis of the circumstances that lead to this nasty accident showed that Yaroslav had a small ankle injury that he proved to be crucial to the events that followed.
I’m completely guessing here, but I think in preparation to the powerlifting championship he had a case of bad luck and somehow messed up his ankle. I like to believe that after learning about the accident his crew tried to talk him out of competing, however, Yaroslav slammed some vodka, and screamed “NYET”! Scoffing off the idea of withdrawing from the competition which ultimately leads to his tragic leg injury.
The injury could have been much worse, Yaroslav will be up and running in 3 months and destroying weights in 6. If you want to know how a “worst case scenario” of a squatting accident looks like, try googling the story of Jean-Pierre Fux who tore everything in his knees while squatting for a photoshoot.
