A TEAM GB powerlifter has achieved her personal best in the World Equipped Bench Press championships 2021.
Darlington resident Rachel Steedman, took to the international platform again last weekend in Vilnius, Lithuania for the World Equipped Bench Press championships.
The 26-year-old finished fifth achieving a personal best of 115kgs against some strong competition.
This is the second time she has represented Great Britain at the World Championships and has managed to improve on her last performance in Tokyo.
Miss Steedman said: “I have been powerlifting for seven years and this is the second time I have done it on the world stage.
“The first time was in Tokyo in 2019, I set myself a record then and I intended to beat it this time, which I did.”
“The competition was in Lithuania but due to Covid and flight delays, it took me a long time to get there.
“I thought this might have a knock-on effect, that I wouldn’t perform my best.
“But four flights and five countries later, I got there, and I gave my best performance ever.”
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Miss Steedman represents Team GB at the games but Powerlifting is not an Olympic sport. It is different from weightlifting, in powerlifting the focus is to lift as heavy as possible in a single plane of motion.
Miss Steedman added: “I have been training over the past year for the event, but it was hard to train during lockdown and for the first seven months of the 2020 lockdown I didn’t train much.
“I had so much going on, I moved to Darlington to begin working at Darlington Memorial Hospital.
“Powerlifting became my escape from the stresses of the world, I could fully concentrate on it and my boyfriend, who is also my personal trainer and coach, helped me throughout.
“We are a bit of a power-couple.”
Miss Steedman is currently training for her next competition is January, the British Equipped Championships, and for the World Equipped Bench Press championships 2022, which is to take place in Kazakhstan.
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