For two weeks in a row we’ve been fortunate enough to see 43 year old elite powerlifter Jennifer Thompson bench press big numbers. Last week, we saw Thompson bench a personal best of 325 lbs at Liberty University. This weekend, we got to witness her set a new -72kg IPF World Record.
Thompson set her new IPF World Record with a 317.5 lb bench. This new record is 2.3 times her body weight, which is an insane pound for pound feat with any form of press.
In the video’s description, she discussed that she had a rough morning, but was actually aiming to hit a 319 lb bench. Either way, she set a new world record for the -72kg weight class and made it look easy.
She claimed her new world record at the tenth annual Reykjavik International Games, which held their powerlifting competition this Sunday, January 29th. Every year this event is held in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, and hosts a variety of sports.
The Reykjavik International Games competition was a fully classic meet, which in the IPF terms means raw. There were 10 men and women in total who were listed to lift.
In case you missed the previously mentioned 325 lb bench press from last week, the video is attached below. This video blew the minds of not only the football player’s in the room, but a lot of the lifting community as well.
Yes, the 325 lb bench press was an unofficial press, but she still paused for a slight second before finishing the lift. So would it count in competition? That’s up for viewer discretion, but we give her the green light.
Thompson is possibly one of the strongest female lifters in the world for the 63kg/72kg weight classes, if not the strongest. Our last article asked the question: Could 2017 be the year we see Thompson hit 320+ in competition.
I’d say her new 317.5 lb IPF World Record is definitely a good sign of what to expect as the year goes on.
Feature image from @jennthompson132 Instagram page.
