On December 17th, Russian powerlifter Andrey Sapozhonkov competed in the Raw division of the 2020 World Raw Powerlifting Federation (WRPF) World Championships in Moscow, Russia. He only participated in the bench press portion of the competition, but he performed a feat that garnered a lot of attention out of the powerlifting community.
On his second attempt of the day, where he competed in the 198 pound (90 kg) class, he managed to successfully press 611 pounds (277 kg). That is a lift of 3.11 times his bodyweight, with him weighing in that day at 198 pounds. It ties his own world record for raw pressing in the 90 kg category. As you can see in the video below from the Powerlifting Legends Instagram page, he made it look relatively easy. There was a slight decrease in speed at the midpoint of the lift before he locked it out with his triceps.
The lift ties his all-time best in competition. He had completed a successful lift of the same weight back in August of this year at the WRPF European Championships. The difference between that day and his recent lift is that he lifted the weight on the third attempt of the meet in August.
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He had opened this meet with a good lift of 595 pounds (269.8). After his first two lifts, he had went for a third attempt with 617 pounds (279.8 kg), but the attempt was not successful. Nonetheless, his 611 pound lift was still the top mark of the division at this event.
Sapozhonkov has competed in a full meet in the past, but primarily only participates in the bench press portion of contests. He has stated publicly that his ultimate goal is to bench press 661 pounds (300 kg) in the same weight class that he competed in at this meet.
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Sapozhonkov has been competing in powerlifting since 2010, and took his first WRPF world title win at this event in 2015 as an amateur. The win at this meet gives him his fourth straight pro open raw title. There is no word on when the 33 year old plans to compete again, but it is safe to say that he will look to inch closer to his ultimate 300 kg goal.
Featured Image: Instagram/sap_andruha
