Vegan Powerlifter at World Championships

Julia went to the World Championships for the first time with ambitious targets.

4 November 2017

First off was squat and Julia hoped to get 100kg. She holds the New Zealand National record at both u52 (which is 90kg) and u56 (100 kg), although has only squatted 100kg when she’s been at the heavier weight. She completed the 100kg squat making the lift a new record.

Next was bench. With her personal best at 60kg, Julia used that as her opening weight and made a technical error. Her next was at 62.5kg which set a new National record. She then attempted 65kg which wasn’t a clean lift, although she was happy with the 62.5kg.

The deadlifts were last and knowing she’d done 140kg in training numerous times, opened with hr own National record of 130kg. With that complete she attempted 135kg but ws unable to complete it in the next two attempts.

This left her with a total of 292.5 kg. This is a massive 12.5kg increase on her own New Zealand record, although Julia also had 300 kg in her mind so there was a tinge of disappointment that the deadlift potential was not reached and the 300kg total not reached.

“I have mixed emotions after the event” Julia explained “and a lot to reflect on and learn from. I was really happy with my squats, as I went 3/3 and finished at 100kg. Bench went reasonably well and I set a new PR of 62.5kg. By the end of the day I think I'd run out of steam and deadlifts just didn't go as well as I had planned; I went 1/3 and only got my 130kg opener on the board. The other two lifts came up but got two red lights each. However, achieving a total of 292.5kg is a competition PR for me; so, while I may have wished for a bigger number, it is still a performance I'm proud of. “

Julia also reflected that she inexperienced in competition outside New Zealand.

“This was my first international meet and I was flying completely solo, so there were a lot of things I learned the hard way that I hope to be able to do better next time.” Luckily for Julia another option is just around the corner as later in November she has the IPL Drug-Test World Championships in Atlanta.

As she told us, the day after the comp: “Today, I'm back into training!”

Julia’s profile

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