After setting three Swiss records and a world record at the Swiss Full Powerlifting Championship in March this year (see earlier post), my younger son Felix Strong was invited by the Swiss Drug Free Powerlifting Federation to compete at the World Single Lift Championship in Sardinia on 2-4 June. This WDFPF competition was held in Alghero on the northwest coast of Sardinia. Felix, accompanied by his father (me) and mother, flew to Olbia on the northeast coast on 30 May. We spent a couple of days exploring the Olbia region before driving across to Alghero on 1 June.

Felix did extremely well, setting a new world record for the deadlift in his age-weight class, and new Swiss records for the squat and bench press.  He competed in the T2 (16-17 year) age category having turned 17 earlier in 2023 and in the 75-82.5 kg weight class. As each lift was a separate competition on a different day, he had to weigh in each morning. His weight ranged from 81.5 to 82.2 kg. 

The video below shows his world record deadlift of 260 kg. This exceeded the previous record of 255 kg for his age-weight class by 5 kg. Apart from coming first in his age-weight category, he also came third overall in the weight category (75-82.5 kg), which included around 30 men of all ages. As the Italian commentator said, “È straordinario!”

In a full powerlifting competition, the athlete performs all three lifts on the one day, whereas a single lift competition is a competition in which only one of the three lifts is performed.  Single Lift competitions attract athletes who specialise in one of the lifts and the competitors are not already fatigued from performing other lifts. Records set in a full power competition are separate from records set in a single lift competition, and the latter tend to be higher.  So Felix now holds two world records for the deadlift:  245 kg in a full power competition and 260 kg in a single lift competition.

The video below shows Felix performing a squat of 180 kg on 2 June. He came first in his age-weight category and also set a new Swiss record.

The third video, below, shows his bench press of 115 kg on 3 June. He came second in his age-weight category and set a new Swiss record.

There were 275 competitors overall in the three-day competition, including Felix and three other athletes from Switzerland. Three of the Swiss competitors set new world records:

Daniel Velarde:  150 kg bench press – world record for male M1 (40-44 yrs) -67.5

Gina Berther:     195 kg deadlift – world record for female SR (24-39 yrs) -70 kg

Felix Strong:       260 kg deadlift – world record for male T2 (16-17 yrs) -82.5 kg

Felix’s coach, Chris Candon, also came from Geneva to give him support and advice through the competition.

Felix’s coach has described the world record as special because he has been coaching Felix since the beginning of his powerlifting training, less than two years ago. Chis opted for a rather unique and innovative program, saying it’s not easy to have a youngster who progresses with each training (4th week of preparation there was a 3×3 @ 105% of the max), and even more complicated to manage the injury factor. He said it has not been easy to calm the ardor of a teenager without slowing down his progress, but he is proud that Felix has never been injured.