“Captain America” John Haack has once again made powerlifting history. On Sept. 24, 2022, Haack entered the 2022 United States Powerlifting Association (USPA) Raw Pro meet in North Kansas City, MO. He finally reached his goal of breaking the elusive 600-pound raw bench press mark in competition.
Haack broke the all-time world record in the raw bench press of the 100-kilogram division with a successful lift of 272.5 kilograms (600.7 pounds). The monumental lift can be seen below, courtesy of the Strong Barbell Club YouTube channel:
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Weighing five kilograms below the weight limit at 95.6 kilograms (210.8 pounds), Haack started the day with a best squat of 347.5 kilograms (766.25 pounds). He successfully lifted 240 kilograms (529.2 pounds) on his first attempt at the bench press and 257.5 kilograms (567.8 pounds) on his second. Haack took the weight and his record on his third attempt of the meet, which was met with two white lights and thunderous cheers from the crowd in attendance. He was wearing his traditional Captain America singlet along with a lifting belt and wrist wraps. His spotter was his coach, Andy Huang.
Haack had lifted 275 kilograms (606 pounds) in training on Sept. 12, 2022, but had yet to lift the weight in a meet. The record breaks his previous mark of 267.5 kilograms (589.7 pounds), which he set twice. He set the record initially in January 2022 at the Hybrid Showdown 4 meet.
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Haack pressed the same weight again at the 2022 WRPF American Pro in July. However, he was in the 90-kilogram class for that meet. So, he had two all-time world records in two divisions with the same weight he lifted at two different meets. He also holds world records for the bench press, deadlift, and total in the 90-kilogram class. Of course, this makes Haack the first 100-kilogram lifter to press 600 pounds raw. He also secured the total record in the 100-kilogram class, breaking his record. The summary of his day is below:
2022 USPA Raw Pro — John Haack | 100KG
- Squat — 347.5 kilograms (766 pounds)
- Bench Press — 272.5 kilograms (600.6 pounds)
- Deadlift — 410 kilograms (903.9 pounds)
- Total — 1,030 kilograms (2,270.5 pounds)
The 2022 USPA Raw Pro was Haack’s third meet of 2022. He is the third different lifter to have broken a world record at this meet. Samantha Rice and Joe Sullivan broke all-time world squat records earlier in the day.
Featured Image: @bilbo_swaggins181 on Instagram
