Singapore powerlifter Farhannah Farid breaks world deadlift record
The 30-year-old broke the world record six times over one year.
Local powerlifter Farhannah Farid broke the world deadlift record on Sunday (11 Jun) at the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Championships in Malta.
The 203kg she lifted in the Women’s Under-52kg class also helped her to clinch the gold medal at the world championships.
She also reclaimed the world record from New Zealand’s Evie Corrigan, who held it since March 2023 after lifting 202.5kg at the Sheffield Powerlifting Championships.
Farhannah shared her satisfaction after breaking the record, especially since she suffered a back injury two months before the championships.
“I could not walk or lift my leg to put on pants or even sneeze without pain. Competing felt impossible but I knew I had to make good use of whatever time I had, to make this meet possible in order to reclaim my world record,” shared the 30-year-old in an interview with The Straits Times.
At the IPF World Championships, Farhannah finished eighth out of 24 participants overall. She accumulated a combined weight of 400.5kg, including a 127.5kg squat and 70kg bench press.
The latest record was the sixth Farhannah has set in the span of a year.
At the World Open Classic Powerlifting Championships in June 2022, she broke the world record twice after lifting 197kg and 200.5kg. She then set her third world record at the Southeast Asian Cup in Johor Bahru in September last year, lifting 201kg.
Three months later, she lifted 201.5kg and 202kg at the Asian Classic Powerlifting Championships in Dubai, breaking it for the fourth and fifth time before her record was broken by Evie.
When asked on Farhannah’s mentality when training for this year’s tournament, Singapore powerlifting coach, Ng Jun Jie shared with The Straits Times that she “stayed focused despite the highly stressful periods”.
“She knew what she needed to do to break the world record and stuck to her plan with absolute discipline,” he said.
