Bulgarian-born powerlifter Rostislav Petkov had a good weekend. A force to be reckoned with in the -165lb weight class, he competed at the hotly anticipated Kern US Open and became the lightest man to ever hit a 600 Wilks. (Technically a 600.03 Wilks.) He competed at 74.1 kilograms (163.4 pounds) and took first place with a total of 835 kilograms (1,840.9 pounds).
His most triumphant lift of the meet was probably this monster squat of 305 kilograms (672.4 pounds), over 4.1 times his bodyweight.
[Ever wondered what the best Wilks scores of all time are? Check out our infographic!]
The official results are yet to be published but his total of 835 kilograms set a new world record total that completely annihilated the previous record of 784.7 kilos (1,730lb), which he set himself back in 2015.
While he won his weight class and set a new standard for the Wilks, there was a major disappointment when he just barely missed a 761-pound deadlift. This would have beaten Dmitriy Nasonov’s world record from 2015 by one pound.
He wrote a recap of the meet on his Instagram.
It was a long journey through injures hard time keep my body weight around 165.
But we succeed i set my strategy at the meet right I change my training routine and add some stuff that i never try before… looks like I did everything right this time.
600 wilks points were more then enough to win the overall light weight class.
Great meet everything was set right, perfect timing not too long not to short between the lifts, just perfect 👌🏻 I had little bit more in the tank… I’ll keep it for 181 👋🏻👋🏻165..
1,840lbs all time record I beat my previous record by 120 pounds
His showing at the Open really helped to solidify his standing in the sport, and the man deserves serious accolades for beating his own record total by over fifty darn kilograms. We’re looking forward to seeing his next meet.
Featured image via @barbend on Instagram.
