Dear powerlifting friends,
At the Sheffield Championships this weekend, we all experienced a spectacular event full of excitement and top performances. Not only from the athletes, but also the organization of the event, loading and spotting, media presentation and the hard work from all the teams who came together to make this a one of a kind experience.
It also represents a unique opportunity for athletes to earn large cash prizes for their performances. The two champions, Austin Perkins USA and Tiffany Chapon FRA, both earned £40,000 for their show stopping performances. The prize payout overall at this one event was £250,000 (approx $343,000). In fact, across the four competitions held so far, over $1 million dollars has been paid to Sheffield athletes by SBD.
25 records were broken, some of them more than once! The total world record fell in 11 of the 16 weight classes, including the 120kg record that has stood since 2016, demonstrating the incredibly high standard of lifting.
Looking to the future, I am pleased, honoured and excited to announce that the IPF and SBD have extended their contractual relationship to 2031. That means epic performances at Sheffield for six more years at the very least.
I want to thank Benjamin Banks and the rest of the SBD team for Sheffield and wish them all the best in the future. I thank all the volunteers for their enormous contribution both at the local, national and international level. Without those individuals nothing would happen.
The lifters, I thank and congratulate on their world beating performances. When you lift weights, you lift our spirits.
I wish you all a safe journey home and we will see you all at Sheffield V in November, when the competition moves to its new stadium venue.
Personally, I cannot wait.
Sigurjón Pétursson
IPF President
