Yesterday, USA Powerlifting announced their 2018 roster for the Open Raw National team. Every year the IPF World Classic Championships brings out some of the best athletes in the sport of raw powerlifting. This year’s World Classic Championships are being held in Calgary, Canada, and will take place June 5-17th.
The USA Powerlifting roster is looking very strong for 2018 and is composed of athletes that sit at or near the top of their weight class rankings. Seven women and eight men will represent USA Powerlifting this year, and the full roster can be seen below.
Below we’ve included a couple more details about each lifter, a few of their recent accomplishments, and content we’ve written on them before!
Allega Hudson 47kg
Hudson continually plays a dominating role in the 47kg weight class, and earned first place last year at USAPL Raw Nationals.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdqqdiaDn11/
Marisa Inda 52kg
Marisa Inda currently holds the IPF Classic World Record total for the women’s -52kg weight class at 430kg (947 lbs), which is also an All-Time World Record.
Jennifer Millican 57kg
Millican is consistently a top competitor in the women’s 57kg weight class, and holds two IPF Classic World Records. Currently, she commands the squat record with 174.5kg and the total with 462kg.
Jennifer Thompson 63kg
Powerlifting legend Jennifer Thompson has staked her claim as one of the best pound-for-pound athletes of all time for the bench press. She currently holds multiple world records for the 63kg and 72kg weight classes, but at 63kg more specifically, she controls the IPF classic bench record at 141.5kg and total at 486kg.
Samantha Calhoun 63kg
Calhoun will be joining Thompson in the 63kg weight class, and took home second last year at 2017 USAPL Raw Nationals putting up a strong 475kg total.
Daniella Melo 84kg
Melo is a consistently strong competitor in the 84kg weight class and currently holds the IPF Classic squat world record at 206.5kg. Most recently, we wrote an article on her reporting her strong 205kg 5-rep squat that’s only 1.5kg shy of her world record.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeG8LDWlB3h
Bonica Brown +84kg
Powerlifting legend Bonica Brown is no stranger to hitting epic feats of strength, and walking away with first place finishes. She’s a 6x Classic/Equipped IPF World Champion, and we most covered her squatting an epic 273kg (601 lbs) at the 2017 USAPL raw nationals.
Matthew Arremony 59kg
Arremony is a routinely strong competitor in the men’s 59kg weight class. He walked away with first at last year’s USAPL Raw Nationals with a 550kg total.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdvi_Hnl0TJ/
Charles Okpoko 66kg
Okpoko has had success competing in both raw and equipped at an international level. He squatted 700 lbs equipped at the 2017 USAPL Collegiate Nationals, and has written multiple articles for us.
Taylor Atwood 74kg
Atwood has had a strong career in the 74kg weight class, and is coming off a great 2017. He took home first last year at USAPL Raw Nationals and at the IPF Classic World Championships.
Russel Orhii 83kg
Orhii, aka @russswole on social media, recorded a commanding performance at the 2017 USAPL Raw Nationals where he totaled a strong 793kg.
Ashton Rouska 93kg
Rouska has recorded some monstrous lifts in his powerlifting career. Last year at 19 years old, we wrote about Rouska’s epic 765 lb deadlift.
LS McClain 93kg
McClain is an all around strong powerlifter, but is possibly best known for his insane bench strength. In October, he took home first at the NAPF Bench Press Championships with an epic 220kg press at 92.7kg bodyweight.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd3EZoXFdsN/
Bryce Lewis 105kg
Lewis continually improves and dominates in the 105kg weight class. He walked away with first place at the 2017 USAPL Raw Nationals with a strong 890kg total.
Ray Williams +105kg
“It’s money time!” Williams is known across all strength sports for his epic 1,000 lb+ raw squats and commanding powerlifting performances. He currently holds the IPF Classic squat, deadlift, and total world records.
Feature image screenshot from @marisainda Instagram page.Â