With every day that passes we creep a little bit closer to this year’s IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships. This year, the Championships are taking place in Calgary, Canada and begin on June 5th and extend through June 17th.
Potentially one of the most exciting weight classes to watch this year will be the women’s -63kg class. This class is stacked with a ton of elite lifters from across the globe, and the video below highlights yet another reason why you won’t want to miss the showdown that’s taking place in less than two weeks.
Maria Htee, a 57kg/63kg Canadian powerlifter has been pushing, pulling, and squatting big weight in lead up for the Championships. Her latest video is one of her most impressive sets filmed for this year’s Championships and it highlights three strong squat doubles at 170kg (375 lbs) and three bench singles with 122kg (225 lbs).
To provide more context, this year’s -63kg weight class will feature athletes like Swedish powerlifting athlete Isabella Von Weissenberg and bench press legend Jen Thompson. Needless to say, it’s going to be a fight to the finish.
Htee’s last official meet was at the 2018 Arnold Classic when she competed in the SBD Pro American. At this meet, she took home second place in the -63kg weight class behind Samantha Calhoun by a mere 2.5kg, and also took second for the highest Wilks score (535) for the raw women competitors.
To conclude her meet, Htee squatted a massive 185kg (407 lbs), which was an unofficial IPF World Record, bench pressed 105kg (231 lbs), and deadlifted 195kg (429 lbs) for a strong 485kg (1,067 lb) total. Htee almost found herself in first for the -63kg weight class, but nearly missed a 200kg (440 lb) third attempt deadlift.
Htee and the rest of the -63kg weight class will be lifting on June 14th, and we don’t think you want to miss this epic showdown of strength. Who’s got the top spot? It’s tough to say.
Feature image from @maria_htee Instagram page.