American powerlifter Tom Kallas made a squat of 815 pounds (369.7 kilograms) at an American Powerlifting Federation (APF) meet held in Cincinnati. The squat was made raw with knee wraps, making it an all-time world record in the 198lb weight class. It beat the previous record holder Alekseyev Vyacheslav’s squat by 4 pounds.
Kallas posted with the comment,,
NEW ALL TIME WORLD RECORD 815LBS!!!!! (370KILOS) Can’t believe this day has finally come. I’ve prayed more times than I can count for strength to squat this. God came thru today for that I am beyond grateful.
Watch it below.
[Is your squat stalling? Learn these 17 ways to break through a stubborn squat plateau.]
The squat got two white lights and one red light, so it satisfied the judges, but we haven’t seen this much controversy over a world record squat since Dallas Norris’s 355kg squat from last summer.
Here’s a slightly different angle of the lift.
We weren’t there and more importantly the judges passed the lift, so we typically feel that the most sensible thing to do here is to trust the judges’ opinions. But that didn’t stop hordes of comments calling the squat high, and Kallas wasn’t shy about replying to them.
Wish I met you at the meet when you saw my “high squat” Get passed. Where were you standing again? In front? On the side? Did you spot me?? Ohhhhh that’s right you were at home watching on your phone. Well that’s pretty much the same thing right?
He also went so far as to post a video reply. Be warned, there’s a little profanity here.
Hey it’s your favorite high squatting personality Tom Kallas. I see a lot of people still talking sh*t about my 815 world record squat. Saying they didn’t even need to see it in person, that the video I uploaded is good enough to tell them it was high. (…)
I was told by some pretty big name lifters it was good, and they watched it from the side. Their opinions matter more than yours ever will. (…)
This is my third world record. And it’s been in the 3rd different federation I’ve done it in. So I think I know what I’m doing.
Kallas has indeed broken world records before, one of his best known being a 711-pound (322.5kg) squat he made in the 165-pound class in 2015. He held this record until it was broken by Ukrainian lifter Arkadiy Shalokha one month later.
Anyway, this weekend Kallas deadlifted 633 pounds and benched 352 pounds for a 1,802 pound total — a 51-pound PR. Congrats to the man.
Featured image via @tomkal1 on Instagram.