Well, that record sure got broken fast.
While the 2018 International Powerlifting Federation Championships took place over two weeks, a whole lot of world records were broken. Oftentimes the same record was broken more than once during the championship but when that record is the all-time heaviest lift of any weight class, it’s extra exciting.
We’re talking about the bench press. Algerian powerlifter Ilyas Boughalem, who lost his world record to Jaisyn Mike that same week, took his IPF world record back with this mighty smooth bench of 281.5 kilograms (620.6 pounds).
[Don’t miss the new heaviest deadlift ever made in the IPF, Ray Williams’ monster 398.5-kilogram lift.]
As the commentators said, that was fast. Very fast. That’s a lift that probably could have gone considerably heavier, but hey, he didn’t have to lift any heavier than a new world record.
Here’s Jaisyn Mike’s record from earlier that week, a 281-kilogram lift that sure looked a lot more like a 1-rep max.
Mike also broke the M1 Master’s record squat at this meet with 330kg and the M1 total record with 923.5kg.
Boughalem, anyway, obviously won the bench press in his +120kg weight class and did so by a margin of 16.5 kilograms. He came fourth overall in the superheavyweights (after Ray Williams ,Kelly Branton, and Siim Rast) squatting 342.5 kilograms (755lb) and deadlifting 280 kilograms (617.3lb) for a total of 904 kilograms (1,993lb). Yep, he benched more than he deadlifted.
We had trouble finding his pre-Mike world record of 280 kilograms (617.3 pounds), which he made in October 2017, but we did find yet another of his bench press world records, this 277.5-kilogram wrist trembler from July 2017.
[Curious as to the heaviest raw bench press of any federation? Check out our infographic.]
After this year’s Worlds, Boughalem returned to Algeria to a celebration held by his nation’s Ministry of Youth and Sports. He is very good at bench pressing.
Featured image via AerinQQ on YouTube.