A 21-year-old Hobart powerlifter has won gold at the World Classic Bench Press Championships in Warsaw, setting a personal best with a 122.5-kilogram lift.
Natalia Leszczynski claimed the title in the under-76-kilogram junior weight class at the IPF World Classic and Equipped Bench Press Championships.
The massive week-long event featured more than 1,400 lifters across classic and equipped categories for all age groups.
Leszczynski beat her previous best of 119 kilograms and said she went into the competition ranked first but did not expect to win after travelling around 24 hours to reach Poland.
“I knew I had it in me, but executing on the platform is a whole different level on the international platform,” she told Pulse.
“So just had to believe that I had it, and I did.”
Leszczynski said she tried to scout out her rivals on Instagram beforehand but had little idea where they stood.
“Some people don’t like to post their lifts, so I had no clue where the girls were at,” she said.
The former shot put thrower took up weightlifting around three years ago after going to the gym for her athletics training.
“I just really started to love lifting heavy,” she said.
She found a coach and has trained with the same one ever since, working out of Leviathan Strength Gym in Moonah.
Leszczynski celebrated her world title with a pork schnitzel at a Polish restaurant that night.
She is now preparing for the World Junior and Sub-Junior Championships in South Africa in August.
The junior category covers athletes aged 19 to 23, before they move into the open division.
Leszczynski said her long-term goal is to compete at the open world level, though the sport does not pay.
“I wish it could be a career,” she said.
“We don’t get any money from anything, but I think the main goal would be to make it to the open world stage and place pretty high up in that as well.”
