The top 83KG powerlifter in the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF), Russel Orhii, left no doubt of his status atop the division following the 2025 Sheffield Powerlifting Championships.
Orhii achieved a fourth-place overall finish in England. That doesn’t tell the whole story given the contest’s scoring system of comparing athletes by their totals as a percentage of their respective division’s world record. Orhii missed the podium but achieved a new IPF world record squat en route to a new world record total.
After the competition, Orhii appeared on the King of the Lifts podcast where he announced his plans to move up to the 93KG division.
[Related: Agata Sitko (69KG) Scores 3 IPF World Records at 2025 Sheffield Powerlifting Championships]
Throughout the course of his entire competitive powerlifing career that includes two gold medals at IPF World Championships, Orhii has only ventured out of the 83KG class a single time: the 2022 USAPL Korea Winter Showdown in South Korea. Orhii competed at 90KG for that contest and achieved the following results:
2022 USAPL Korea Winter Showdown Results — Russel Orhii, 90KG
- Squat
317.5 kilograms- 327.5 kilograms
- 340 kilograms
- Bench Press
- 182.5 kilograms
- 190 kilograms
- 195 kilograms
- Deadlift
- 320 kilograms
- 335 kilograms
- 350 kilograms
- Total — 885 kilograms
Since then, Orhii has come within 15 kilograms of that total from South Korea at a bodyweight of seven kilograms fewer. At the 2025 Sheffield, Orhii rewrote the record books by scoring an 870.5-kilogram total.
Adding on additional pounds will allow Orhii to lock out significantly more weight on the lifting platform. The current IPF world record at 93KG is Emil Krastev‘s 917.5 kilograms from the 2025 IPF Sheffield. If Orhii can add 47 kilograms to his total with 10 additional kilograms of bodyweight on his frame, the 2026 Sheffield could feature a new battle among elite lifters: Orhii versus Krastev.
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Featured image: @russwole on Instagram
