Last weekend, Christine Lesellier, part of Ekinops’ Sales administration team, made the 12-hour flight to Japan to participate in the IPF World Bench Press championships.
Taking place on Saturday 18th May in Tokyo, the event combined equipped bench press and classic (or raw) bench press and was attended by an all-time high number of lifters: 1088 in total, with Christine joining the 200+ female classic lifters from across the world.
If you’ve met Christine, you’ll know she is a dedicated sportswoman. She first began training in 2009 and is just as passionate a decade on. In 2018, she set the classic bench press world record in her weight category of 50kg. Her secret is simple: work hard, train consistently and enjoy the moment.
Christine is a classic powerlifter, meaning she doesn’t wear a vest for support. She entered the group 2 category (50 – 59 years) weighing in at 50kg and up against three other lifters - two Japanese and a contender from Hungary.
On her first attempt at the bar, Christine benched an easy 80kg. A world record breaking attempt claimed only minutes later by her Japanese opponent who passed 81.5 kg.
Christine was proving an excellent match.
At the second try, Christine reclaimed the record with 82.5kg. Japan snatched it again though, pressing 85kg.
It was getting close.
The final push saw her attempt and succeed at 85kg which, weighing less than her opponent, would see her take the trophy. Christine was in the lead, but her Japanese contender still had one last attempt at the title and benched just 500g more to claim the first place and set the new world record at 85.5kg.
A mark of her true sportsmanship, Christine says she is honored to have competed against some fantastic lifters. She returns to us a champion, with a silver medal under her belt and a new French National and European world record of 85kg to be proud of. Well done Christine, you’re an inspiration to the whole EKINOPS team!
For those who want to watch her competition: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P0NqXwgUTtI
