The first edition of the 2023 Sheffield Championships brought all kinds of records: the attendance, the huge prize pot, and world records in the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). The contest is the brainchild of strength sports equipment manufacturer SBD Apparel and is confirmed in the IPF calendar through at least 2026.
The second edition of the competition will be held on Feb. 10, 2024, at City Hall in Sheffield, UK. The prize fund has grown even bigger — a potential £445,000 (around $541,000). Below is the full roster:
The 2023 Sheffield Powerlifting Roster
These four athletes join the existing roster:
- Jesus Olivares (USA)
- Evie Corrigan (New Zealand)
- Tiffany Chapon (France)
- Natalie Richards (USA)
- Panagiotis Tarinidis (France)
- Carola Garra (Italy)
- Prescillia Bavoil (France)
- Delaney Wallace (USA)
- Karlina Tongotea (New Zealand)
- Jonathan Cayco (USA)
- Amanda Lawrence (USA)
- Anatolii Novopismennyi (Ukraine)
- Brittany Schlater (Canada)
- Carl Johansson (Sweden)
- Tony Cliffe (UK)
- Gustav Hedlund (Sweden)
- Sonita Muluh (Belgium)
- Kyota Ushiyama (Japan)
- Tim Monigatti (New Zealand)
- Carlos Petterson-Grifith (Guyana)
- Gavin Aldin (USA)
- Jade Jacob (France)
- Noémie Allabert (France)
- Agata Sitko (Poland
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At Sheffield, instead of the biggest total winning in each weight class, athletes score based on the proportion of the world record in their class (e.g., if the total is 400 kilograms and the IPF world record in that class is 420 kilograms, then the score is 400/420 = 0.9524.). The highest score wins the first-place prize of £25,000 (approx. $30,400). Payouts go down to 10th place. Additionally, there is a £5,000 (approx. $6,100) bounty paid for each IPF open raw world record broken.
Four Rounds of Selection
To be considered at all for Sheffield 2024, an athlete must have competed at an IPF World or Regional powerlifting championships, must be in good standing with the IPF, and have no prior anti-doping offenses. With that in mind, the selection process for Sheffield 2024 then went through four distinct rounds.
- Male and female winners of Sheffield 2023
- Winners from the 2023 IPF Classic World Championships (CWC) in Malta, who totaled at least 95 percent of the total world record
- The top performing male and female second-place lifters from the 2023 CWC
- The top performing athlete from every unrepresented IPF region that achieved 95 percent of the total world record in their class
Four spots remained available to fulfill the above criteria: three female slots and one male slot. More information on the final four wildcards are below:
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The Wildcards
Gavin Adin — USA
Gavin Adin was Junior world champion in the 93-kilogram class in 2021, breaking the Junior bench press world record with 215 kilograms (474 pounds) on his way to victory. He moved up to the Open category in 2022 but missed the podium in a stacked class.
That performance was enough to score a place at Sheffield 2023, where he squatted a raw world record of 336.5 kilograms (742 pounds) that was overturned by the jury. He went on to break the total world record with 880 kilograms, but was broken by Jonathan Cayco.
Adin saw disappointment at the 2023 IPF Classic World Championships (CWC) in Malta, only getting one squat en route to finishing in fifth place. His wildcard selection for Sheffield 2024 gives him the chance for redemption, and his battle cry, “Burn your ships,” will ring out once more in Sheffield City Hall.
Jade Jacob — France
Jade Jacob is the highest ranked classic IPF female who has yet to win an open world title. She was the Junior world champion in 2021 and holds Junior world records in squat, deadlift, and total. At the 2022 CWC in South Africa, Joy Nnamani had to deadlift two world records in a row to beat Jacob by half a kilo (one pound).
At Sheffield 2023, Jacob broke the Open world records in deadlift (231 kilograms (509 pounds)) and total (503.5 kilograms (1,110 pounds)) and finished in third place for £12,500 (approx. $15,200).
Jacob took silver at the 2023 CWC in Malta behind an unstoppable Natalie Richards. This wildcard selection means that the two will face off in the north of England in 2024.
Noémie Allabert — France
Two-time world champion Noémie Allabert has broken world records in squat, deadlift, and total in the 52-kilogram class. At the 2022 CWC in Sun City, Allabert traded the squat world record back and forth with Pleun Dekkers.
Allabert won silver at the 2023 Sheffield Championships, behind the overall female winner, Evie Corrigan, earning £17,500 (approx. $21,250). At the 2023 CWC in Malta, Allabert struggled on squat and finished second again. Their third meeting is lined up for Sheffield 2024 — will it be third time lucky for Allabert?
Agata Sitko – Poland
Agata Sitko has been collecting titles since she burst on the powerlifting scene in 2021. Here’s a quick rundown of her accolades since then:
- 2021 Equipped European Junior Champion
- 2021 Equipped World Open Champion
- 2022 Equipped European Junior Champion
- 2022 Equipped World Games Champion
- 2022 Classic World Junior Champion
- 2022 Classic Open European Champion
Sitko won silver at the 2022 CWC in a deadlift battle with Jessica Buettner. Sitko then came in a close second to Karlina Tongotea at the 2023 CWC.
At the 2023 Sheffield Championships, Sitko carried an injury and did not place as well as expected, but still won £5,000 (approx. $6,100) by breaking the raw bench press world record in the 76-kilogram class with 146 kilograms (322 pounds). Hopefully, she will be at full strength in 2024.
Featured image: @lya_powerlift on Instagram
