World champ silver for Masterton lifter

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Masterton powerlifter Brett Gibbs has smashed three New Zealand records on his way to winning silver at the International Powerlifting Federation World Junior Championships in Texas.

Gibbs, 22, took a silver medal at the world championships on Friday with a combined lift of 830kg, which was comprised of 320kg squat, 230kg bench press and 280kg deadlift.

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.

Ukrainian powerlifter Roman Martynenko took gold with a combined lift of 857.5kg in the under 83kg weight division and bronze went to Austrian Alexander Huber, who finished with a combined lift of 807.5kg

Gibbs, who is a longtime trainer at Wai Weight Gym in Masterton, yesterday told the Wairarapa Times-Age he had in the bench lifted 17.5kg above his previous personal best, equalled his personal best in deadlift and missed his personal best in the squat by 12.5kg.

He was proud to have shattered three New Zealand records in his weight division, he said, despite missing his opening squat attempt of 320kg "due to a miscommunication between the judge and the timekeeper".

"I didn't get a chance to even attempt it so I had to re-attempt. I passed with ease, went for 337.5kg, and felt robbed as I squatted it, but only one of the three judges passed me on depth," Gibbs said.

"[The winning total] was well within my reach but these things do happen and I'm still very proud," he said.

"It was a very stressful day with all this going on at once. Afterward I put it all into perspective and was happy to come second to a very strong lifter, who had broken his own world record bench press of 260kg," Gibbs said.

"All of my lifts are New Zealand records and I still have one more year as a junior to attempt a 355kg squat world record."

Gibbs, who will be Stateside for another two weeks, thanked his parents and family back home and his supporters from Wai Weight Gym and Powerhouse Gym.

"I'm really looking forward to a couple of weeks relaxing. "