Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Haiden Morris via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Vegan powerlifter Ryan Stills has won the 120 kg Masters 1 title at the IPF World Masters Classic Championships in St. John's, Canada, his fifth IPF world title.
Competing for the US Virgin Islands and weighing in at 115.78 kg, Stills squatted 310 kg, benched 190 kg and pulled 330 kg for an 830 kg total, according to the official IPF scoresheet. That was just five kilos clear of Ireland's Colin Power, who totaled 825 kg. The championships run from October 8 to October 15.
It was a controlled performance rather than an all-out one, and Stills told Great Vegan Athletes he had more in the tank:
I did leave quite a bit on the platform, but we got the job done. Job one when competing internationally is to get the win.
Born in 1976, Stills competes in Masters 1, the IPF category for lifters aged 40 to 49. He even called for 350 kg on his final deadlift, and the GVA report notes he has also won titles with the USAPL and US Virgin Islands federations.
Stills went vegan in 2019 and has kept winning since. The decision was ethical, and he has found the switch has done his strength no harm at all.
"I don't want another sentient being to suffer or die for me to exist," he says.
Plant-powered lifters are having a big October. Just last weekend the Vegan Strong PlantBuilt team won 18 medals at the Mr. America festival. Icelandic lifter Hulda Waage set a 550 kg national total record in 2018, and Pat Reeves keeps breaking her own world deadlift records in her seventies.
No meat, no problem.