The athlete has put herself inside distance of claiming a World Record total.
57-kilogram powerlifter Natalie Richards is making strength gains in preparation for her next meet, and she or he’s looking like she may break records. On May 4, 2023, Richards posted a video of herself setting a PR by squatting 179.1 kilograms (395 kilos) in training.
That was 1.5 kilos over her personal best in competition, which was 178.4 kilograms (393.5 kilos) on the 2022 Carolina Primetime meet in October.
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Richards had two spotters waiting to help her if mandatory. After unracking the bar and walking the load out, Richards stood in a standard stance, took in a breath, and descended into the opening quickly. After going below parallel, Richards struggled out of the opening along with her knees coming in barely. Nonetheless, she stood tall with the load and smiled before returning the barbell to the rack.
She was wearing basic knee sleeves, wrist wraps, and a weightlifting belt for this one-rep set. Within the post caption, and in a subsequent video reel, she shared that she also performed a set of 4 reps with 161 kilograms (355 kilos). One among the more-than-860 likes for Instagram post got here from fellow powerlifter and multiple world-record holder John Haack.
Richards’ most up-to-date meet was the 2023 AMP Classic National Championships, which were held in Austin, TX on Feb. 24, 2023. Her deadlift at that meet was a private record, and her best lifts at that meet totaled to over 500 kilograms, making her the primary 57-kilogram lifter to realize that milestone in a Powerlifting America (AMP) sanctioned meet. Her lifts on that day were as follows.
Natalie Richards | All-Time Raw Competition Bests
- Squat — 175 kilograms (385.8 kilos)
- Bench Press — 105 kilograms (231.5 kilos)
- Deadlift — 221.5 kilograms (488.3 kilos)
- Total — 501.5 kilograms (1,105.6 kilos) | First 57KG Total Above 500kg
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Richards is preparing to interrupt and set recent all-time world records on the IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships, which might be held on the week of June 11-18 in Valetta, Malta. Competition on the meet might be significant, as veteran lifters including Bobbie Butters (current 57kg squat World Record holder) and Jade Jacob (current 57kg deadlift and total World Record holder) are expected to compete as well.
In line with Open Powerlifting, Richards has been competing since 2019. If she competes within the IPF World Classic, it should be her first appearance in a global meet. All 12 of her previous meets had been in the US and she or he has come home with 10 first-place awards.
Featured Image: @nat_lifting on Instagram