Colton Engelbrecht has joined an elite strength club thanks to his 500-kilogram sumo deadlift, which he performed at the Nikolay Kagansky Memorial Tournament meet in Moscow, Russia. A video of the lift is below, courtesy of the Lifting Vault YouTube channel:
Before his final deadlift, Engelbrecht, who officially weighed in at 122 kilograms, completed a 420-kilogram squat, 260-kilogram bench press, and his best-approved deadlift of 470 kilograms in the competition before approaching the 500-kilogram milestone for the first time.
Engelbrecht narrowly missed his first attempt at 500 kilograms within competition standards due to dropping the bar before locking out, but was allowed another attempt with lifting straps. He completed that second attempt with straps and received cheers from the crowd. Engelbrecht was not wearing a deadlift suit during his attempts.
The lift does not officially count because lifting straps are prohibited in powerlifting. Still, Engelbrecht now joins Eddie Hall, Hafthor Björnsson, Jamal Browner, and Krzysztof Wierzbicki, who have lifted the milestone weight on camera.
Hall was the first to complete the lift in 2016 and remains the only one to do it within the rules of sanctioned competition. Straps are allowed in strongman, but the sumo stance is not.
Björnsson’s 501-kilogram lift was performed in 2020 at his gym in Iceland as part of CoreSports’ Feats of Strength series. He used lifting straps in his attempt.
Browner’s lift was performed during training in a sumo stance with straps, and Wierzbicki’s lift of 502.5 kilograms was performed the same way during a training session.
This is not Engelbrecht’s first time to make headlines in his sport. He made powerlifting history by achieving a 1,200-kilogram raw total at the 2025 WPC Clash of Titans, making him the world’s strongest pound-for-pound powerlifter. Engelbrecht attempted to deadlift 500 kilograms that day unsuccessfully. He was closer the second time and appears to be within reach of completing the lift at a future meet.
BarBend contacted Engelbrecht for comment on his lift, whether he intends to go for it again, and his future strength goals.
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Featured Image: @colton_the.limit.breaker on Instagram
