This was a BIG weekend for LGBT+ powerlifting.
Over the weekend I coached two athletes at the LGBT+ International Powerlifting Championships at Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club in London, England.
This was the first powerlifting event ever to offer an inclusive Mx category for transgender, non-binary and intersex athletes.*
FINALLY! Anyone who wants to compete in powerlifting is now able to, regardless of their gender.
***UPDATE: After publishing this post, Will Lanier with OUT|WOD informed me that the Open+ fitness competition hosted in Los Angeles in June also featured an Mx gender category. Sorry for the mix-up Will, and thanks for all you do to make the sport of fitness more inclusive.
Congratulations to Brett Richmond from Devon, England! They won Best Mx Lifter over the weekend.
Four of us traveled from Atlanta to London for the event, representing the Fantastic Beasts, Atlanta’s LGBT+ Powerlifting Club.
Reed, Lis & David. Not pictured – the Viking.
The event was David Holland’s second powerlifting meet, and Reed Gilbert competed in his first meet.
David’s best lifts were a 185kg (407#) Squat, 82.5kg (181#) Bench Press and a 197.5kg (435#) Deadlift.
He finished the meet with personal bests in the Squat, Deadlift, Total, and Wilks coefficient. He won Gold in the 82.5kg Masters 2 category.
Here is his final deadlift (he was unaware of how much weight was on the bar until I told him… after he made the lift :))
Reed’s best lifts were a 177.5kg (391#) Squat, 125kg (276#) Bench Press, and a 227.5kg (502#) deadlift. He won Gold in the 90kg Men’s Raw weight class and also won Best Novice Lifter!
Congrats also to the other Best Lifter award winners:
Bao-Khang Luu – Best Male Lifter & Best Masters Lifter
Elana Pappas – Best Female Lifter
Kris Coombs – Best Overseas Liftersgagyg
Ben Gilliam – Spirit Award
We’ll have more official announcements soon about the future of the LGBT+ International Powerlifting Union, including our plans for the 2019 IPC event and hopefully the return of powerlifting to the Gay Games for 2022 in Hong Kong.
AND possibly by 2020, the United States will be hosting a regional LGBT+ Powerlifting meet!
I’ll share more info as soon as I have it.
In the meantime, thank you and congratulations to ALL of the amazing lifters who competed this past weekend.
To Chris Morgan, all of the event staff, and Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club, THANK YOU for your hospitality and for building on your passion for the sport of powerlifting.
Thanks for reading!
Au revoir,
Lis Smash
*If you read this blog regularly, you saw my post a few months ago about the decision I made to leave the powerlifting federation I was formerly involved with.
To me, it’s very important that competition rules should be the same for all genders. My old fed will be voting in a few months on whether to make attire requirements the same for men and women.
The new federation I’ll be lifting with welcomes transgender lifters to compete, and they are in the process of allowing non-binary and intersex lifters to compete as well.
