Vegan Angeline Berva Sets an Axle Deadlift World Record and Wins Europe's Strongest Woman

French strongwoman Angeline Berva, vegan since she was 17, has set a world record. She pulled 301kg on the axle deadlift in the women's under-82kg class at the Static Monsters World Championships, beating the rest of her category by 51kg, Great Vegan Athletes reports.

Static Monsters pairs two lifts. Berva opened with a 105kg log, 10kg clear of anyone else, then went to the 18-inch axle deadlift, where the thick bar sits higher off the floor and is brutal on the grip. Her opening pull of 260kg was heavier than any lift by her rivals, and she finished on 301kg for a total of 406kg and a 61kg win.

It caps a remarkable month. Earlier in August she won the under-82kg class at the Official Strongman Games European Championships in York, according to Strongman Archives, making her Europe's Strongest Woman. There she ground out eight reps of a 210kg axle deadlift and threw five sandbags in under 15 seconds, Plant Based News reports. Berva said of Static Monsters:

The competition went very well. I was still a little tired from my European Championship. But I came to reclaim my Statics Monsters World Champion title and also attempt the deadlift world record, and I succeeded.

Berva went vegan at 17 after watching videos from the French animal protection group L214, and says she has "built my entire sports career around being vegan". She gets her protein from tofu, seitan, tempeh and legumes, and she competes for the Vegan Strong PlantBuilt team. She told Plant Based News:

I want to show that you don't need to eat corpses to be strong.

Berva is part of a powerful generation of plant-based lifters. Her PlantBuilt team won 48 golds at Mr. America last year, Sophia Ellis set a European deadlift record, and Pat Reeves keeps breaking her own world deadlift record in her seventies.

301kg on plants. The 'weak vegan' stereotype just got deadlifted.