At the World Raw Powerlifting Federation (WRPF) 2017 World Championships this weekend, one of powerlifting’s longest standing records finally fell. Scottish strength coach and entrepreneur Stuart Jamieson descended on Moscow to compete in the -60kg class and deadlifted 630 pounds, or 285.8 kilograms for a new all-time world record.
This broke Lamar Gant’s raw world record by two pounds, which he set all the way back in 1981. Gant is considered one of powerlifting’s all-time greats, as he was the first human being to deadlift five times his bodyweight. In 1980, he pulled 634 pounds at 123 pounds bodyweight, though that one was an equipped lift.
[Check out the video of Lamar Gant’s insane deadlift in our breakdown here!]
Stuart Jamieson had been working on breaking Gant’s record for some time. When he was officially invited to the WRPF championships in July, he wrote on his Instagram,
This time, the only thing that will stop me from pulling that f**king record is if it kills me!! Moscow, let’s go!
He reached Gant’s record back in 2015 with a 628-pound raw lift.
His new world record is all the more remarkable when you consider that he wasn’t expected to see his third birthday: he was born with spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal cord fails to develop properly, and half a ribcage. (Interestingly, Lamar Gant also had scoliosis.) As he aged, Jamieson was diagnosed with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and diastematomyelia, a split in the spinal column.
In a 2014 article, he said
You don’t have to be held down by what you have been given in your life, it all depends on how you label yourself. I’ve experienced the best and worst that life has to offer, but I’ve not allowed my disability to define my quality of life.
Having taken home multiple Scottish titles and a Commonwealth world record pull in addition to this new world record lift, Jamieson certainly seems to be living his life to the fullest.
Featured image via Power Mafia on YouTube.