Nine-year-old Topekan making waves in weightlifting with eyes on world records
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) - Topeka's Jackson Bo Jensen is only nine but he's on his way to becoming a world record holder. He hits home runs like his namesake - Bo Jackson - and he can already lift at an elite level despite only starting the training this August.
Some things just come easy to people, for young Jackson Bo, it's a few things.
"For him, it's so effortless looking," his dad, Joe Jensen, said.
First, there's the work in the weight room, the nine-year-old set four Kansas records last weekend in powerlifting, putting of the highest marks a nine-year-old ever has with ease.
"It feels amazing to lift records and everybody shouts and says good job when you lift it." Jackson Bo said.
He's more than doubled the us records for his age unnoffically but will make it the real deal next month at nationals. Powerlifting includes bench, squad and of course his favorite
"Deadlift. It's easy, you just have to bend over and pick it up."
Jenkins also is a baseball prodigy, he spent time this summer playing in a USSSA All-American team, homers are his speciality. Jackson Bo's got speed with the power, just like Bo Jackson
"When we were at the All-American tournament he ran the 60-yard dash in nine seconds flat, which we knew was fast, but at the end of the day, was the fastest kid there in all of America," Joe Jensen said.
His parents knew early on he was special.
"Well I've been training people and working out with people who are really strong for over 20 years and when he picked up the same amount of weight as his older brother, I was like 'wait a second,' and his older brother's in high school," Jensen said.
He's got a chance to do it on the world stage sometime soon, but enjoying childhood is just as important.
"You gotta make time to be a kid still, you have to make time to do kid stuff and go have fun with your friends and do sleepovers and play video games and do all that cool stuff and that way they don't get burnt out on it," Jensen said.
And they want to make sure he does it for the love of the game, whatever that game ends up being
"If you can teach a kid to love a sport, and make it fun and make it interesting and make it rewarding, they're gonna want to do it for the rest of their life," Jensen said.
Proud is an understatement, and despite all the success before hitting double digits, it's just another day in the life of jackson bo
"He's nine years old, he doesn't know, 'it's just what I do, I just wake up and do this.'"