World-class powerlifter Brett Gibbs has returned home to Masterton a wiser athlete after locking horns in Moose Jaw, Canada, with some of the most powerful junior lifters from across the globe.
Gibbs, 20, said he captured 11th place in the 74kg weight class at the world event and has tempered his disappointment with commitment to place in at least the top 10 next year on his way to number one within the next three years.
Powerlifting is a strength sport consisting of three events - the squat, the bench press and the deadlift, during which competitors lift successively heavier weights in three attempts.
"There was a lot of pressure out there with at least 100 people in the audience at each lift," he said. "At home a big crowd is 40 people and you compete among people you know.
"I warmed up with the French team but I don't speak French so there was no communication and the European teams - Russians, Ukrainians, the French - they take it all very seriously anyway and there was heaps of psyching going on, trying to put you off your lift," he said.
Gibbs, who set two national records this year at the 2011 New Zealand National Powerlifting Championships, said he lifted 150kg, 210kg and 230kg in the bench, dead lift and squat respectively in Canada but failed to improve his numbers on the successive two lifts in each section.
His total at the world event was 42.5kg down on his total lifted at the Kiwi nationals this year.
"My strength and mental focus was not there on the day ... I was dehydrated and completely exhausted after my last attempt.
"But the competition has given me a huge wake-up call about what I need to win world events.
"Now I have seen and experienced all this myself, I still have a further three years in the juniors to strive for the number one ranking."
Gibbs said his tilt at the world event was made possible through sponsors that included Wai Weight Gym, where he trains, and Breadcraft Wairarapa, where he works.
"And I wouldn't have gotten far without my training partners Tony, Spike and Tim either," Gibbs said of his fellow Wai Weight Powerlifting team members.
Gibbs competed in Canada alongside two other junior Kiwi powerlifters - Aucklanders John Strachan and Andrew Burge.
Strachan, in the 66kg class, finished in seventh place, 50kg below his best, and Burge failed all attempts on the bench and "bombed" on his total.
Gibbs said he had been invited to shift to Auckland and train at no cost at a gym in the city and he was seriously considering the offer.