Image: Sophia Ellis (@Sophiastrength) via Great Vegan Athletes, used with permission.
British vegan powerlifter Sophia Ellis is European champion. Lifting in the 76 kg class at the European Classic Powerlifting Championships in Skierniewice, Poland, she pulled a 240.5 kg deadlift, a new European and British record, and took gold for bench, deadlift and total, Great Vegan Athletes reports.
Ellis squatted 165 kg, benched 122.5 kg, and then went 220, 230 and finally 240.5 kg on the deadlift for a 528 kg total, which is also a British record, OpenPowerlifting's results show. She weighed in at 74.3 kg, so that record pull is more than three times her bodyweight.
She has been breaking records all year. In March she broke six national records at the British Women's Classic Championships in Lochgelly, Scotland, including the heaviest deadlift by a woman in British powerlifting history, Plant Based News reported. Back then she credited her diet for her recovery:
As long as I am eating enough and a good balance of foods then my recovery rate is a lot quicker and I feel so much more fueled and energized for training sessions... I have been vegan for 10 years now and a powerlifter for four years. It is so great to be able to continue to break down misconceptions around this lifestyle and show people that you can be strong AND vegan!
Ellis went vegan in 2011, at first for health reasons. She is lactose intolerant and wanted to eat less meat, but the more she looked into it, the more the ethical and environmental side "completely sold it" to her, she told Female First.
Strong vegan women keep making headlines. Kim Best carried a 350 kg yoke, the heaviest ever by a woman, and Hulda Waage set a 550 kg Icelandic total record. Last year arm-wrestler Will Sarty won both world titles. And of course, you don't need meat to be strong.
Strong AND vegan, just as she says.