Mount
Pleasant powerlifter captures three medals in Poland
Wed, 09/05/2012 -
05:15 /By Cindy Chant / cindy@peicanada.com
At just 18-year-old, Justin Smith
has some more medals to put under his weight lifting belt after his recent trip
to Szczyrk, Poland. The Mount Pleasant powerlifter not only won a gold, silver
and bronze medals at the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World
Powerlifting Championships, he set a new world record for his deadlift.
“When I won the medals it was a
moment of awe, and felt that my past three years in the sport finally paid
off,” said Mr Smith. He explained, “After I pulled my first deadlift (which was
already good for a gold medal) I felt awesome because I knew that it was going
to be good for either gold or silver since it was so far ahead of the second
place starter.”
For the competition Mr Smith was in
the men’s subjunior 59 kilogram weight class, down from the 66 kilogram class
he is used to competing against in the deadlift of 235.5 kilograms.
“After I pulled the world record
rather easily on my second I felt like I was on top of the world,” said Mr
Smith.
Powerlifting involves three components
- the squat, the bench press and the dead lifts. The weight successfully
hoisted in all three events is then combined for the competitor’s total score.
That’s based on total weight lifted, divided by body weight. Evangeline
Recreation Centre in Abrams Village has been called home for Mr Smith in
preparation to the upcoming event.
According to Mr Smith the silver
overall medal felt more like a gold given the circumstances of how close the
competition was.
“It really came down to the last
lift which unfortunately slipped from my grip,” he said.
“I checked the final
results/statistics and I actually have the best deadlift in the world, not only
for my specific division, but for the entire sub-junior age division.”
The grounded teen encourages anyone who
is interested in getting into the competitive sport to take a few words of
advice.
“Firstly that they will not get big
and bulky like the professional bodybuilders we constantly see on the cover of
the magazines, regardless of gender. Expect to get in the shape of your life
and gain a lot of strength and energy doing so. Also when starting out, what
you lift is not important at that time. Proper form and technique to do the
exercises is the most important thing,” said Mr Smith. He went on to say, “Lastly,
if they take the time and dedicate themselves to the sport, they will get
somewhere.”
The three medals will hang over Mr
Smiths’ team Canada T-shirt, which has yet to arrive after ordering it before
leaving Poland. He will be keeping with tradition as all Mr Smith’s medals hang
over his competition shirts.
The world championships wrapped up
Sept 2.
