On Jan. 30-31, 2021, Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey, hosted Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate’s (RPS) North American and New Jersey Championships. Everyone that was in attendance got to witness a lift that may have historic implications.
Jimmy Kolb competed in the single-ply equipped division and only took part in the bench press portion of the meet. He actually skipped his opening attempt due to lack of time being ready. The second round of lifts (Kolb’s first actual lift) was where he achieved his potentially historic mark. Kolb managed to complete a lift of 1,050 pounds (476 kilograms) that received three white lights from the judges in attendance.
Kolb shared a video of the lift from multiple angles on an Instagram post. He also claimed that this lift is an all-time world record.
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“1,050lbs Single Ply and Drug Free. This puts me at 5 current all-time world records and this lift is the heaviest 308 single ply in history AND the heaviest single ply ever done.”
Singly-ply equipment means that the shirt or suit used is made of one layer of very tight clothing, typically polyester or denim, to assist the athlete in lifting more weight. Kolb wore both a single-ply bench shirt and a singlet when he completed the attempt. He shared in his stories that he went on to take part in the third round of lifts by attempting 1,120 pounds (507.9 kg), but that attempt was unsuccessful. Nonetheless, he said that he was “very happy” with the way his day went.
Due to the multiple governing bodies of powerlifting, there are actually no official world records established or certified across federations. Open Powerlifting is the database that is most commonly used to determine the most weight lifted. According to that site, the most weight lifted in any single-ply division before Kolb’s attempt was 1,003.1 pounds (455 kilograms) by Blaine Sumner at USAPL’s Arnold Titan Pro Bench Bash in 2019.
[Related: The heaviest multi-ply equipped bench press of all time.]
The top weight in the 308-pound (140-kilogram) division is Vikto Naydenov’s lift of 929.5 pounds (421.5 kilograms) at the 2015 Vityaz Russia Championships. Both athletes competed in bench-only events when they set those marks. Kolb did the same when he completed his lift and toppled those marks by over 125 pounds.
There is no word as of now on what Kolb’s next competition will be.
Featured Image: Instagram/kolbstrong
