Weightlifting: Warwick Barbell secure a strong Varsity win

Until relatively recently, powerlifting was still considered a fringe sport, but with participation at all levels increasing at an exponential rate it is rapidly cementing itself as a thriving and respected discipline in the worlds of strength sport and sports in general. Warwick Barbell put up a strong effort to win the competition with a combined Wilks score of 4474 to Coventry’s 4260. The Wilks score aims to normalise total weight lifted across the bench press squat and deadlift across bodyweights and genders thus allowing strength comparisons to be made between weight and gender categories and aggregate scores such as the ones above to be calculated.

This score was thanks in part to impressive performances by Alex Hiew and Maciek Szczybra, both of whom went 9/9 and posted solid totals of 567.5 and 532.5 respectively, which qualified them both for the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) meet in April. Alex claimed he felt strong pulling a very respectable 240kg with relative ease. He hopes to achieve a 560kg+ total at BUCS. This is especially impressive considering both are first-year students, meaning they are likely to experience significant strength gains in the coming years as their bodies continue to mature. The highest female total was 282.5kg and belonged to Evie Turner of Coventry who, despite focussing on Olympic lifts and not the big 3 that are contested in powerlifting since December, was still able to achieve a very strong total.