Top up Tuesday May week 2 2026

Welcome to your weekly top up of newsbites from me, Charlie Marillier, British Powerlifting’s CEO.

In today’s Newsletter:

    • Equipped European Championships overview and results
    • British Sub-Juniors/Juniors information and links
    • Equipped Powerlifting development report
    • English Powerlifting championships report and links
    • Clean Sport Week May 11-17
    • Mental Health Week May 11-17
    • Recruitment drive: Western European and Equipped Junior Worlds Coaching staff adverts
    • What’s coming up in British Powerlifting competitions

EQUIPPED EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Team GBR sent a huge 51-strong squad to Pilsen, Czechia, as the European Equipped Powerlifting Championships returned to one of its historic homes.

Stephanie Roderick produced one of the standout moments of the week, squatting 245kg in the junior women’s 84+kg class at her international debut. She achieved 10kg above the junior British record on her opener of 220k, then far beyond it by her final attempt. Only three British Powerlifting women have ever exceeded 245kg. She won squat gold and later added deadlift silver with 185kg.

Ellie Steel had a superb open women’s performance, winning bench gold with a new British record of 155kg, plus squat bronze, deadlift silver and the overall silver medal in the 57kg class.

Rita Shergold delivered a world-record performance in the Masters 3 63kg class. She extended her own bench press world record to 100kg, secured the European title, and also set a total world record.

Maureen Gordon broke the Masters 3 bench world record twice in the 76kg class, finishing on 130kg, giving her bench world records in two weight classes.

The Masters 3 women’s team were dominant, winning five European titles and scoring a perfect 60 points.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend this championship for the Sub-Juniors and Juniors section and I was delighted by the standard that was shown. 

I have competed at this venue many times in years gone by and yet still the EPF and Czech Powerlifting managed to provide new and exciting developments in their standards of competitions.

I had some great conversations with many members of the EPF executive committee and those from Czech Powerlifting which largely consisted of their plans for development and drive of the standard of competitions in Europe. I would like to praise each of them for the progress they have made so far as this championship was a joy to attend from opening ceremony to closing banquet.

2026 EUROPEAN EQUIPPED SUMMARY

By Jo Whiteley

Our 51 strong team in Pilsen, Czechia did us proud at the European Equipped.  Here’s how they got on.

SUB-JUNIORS

52kg – Marcia Lane – 292.5kg – BRONZE

83kg – Oliver Armstrong – 495kg – 8th

93kg – Leon Lillico – 547.5kg – 5th

105kg – Fabian Costea – DQ

Men’s team – 7th

Women’s team – 7th

JUNIORS

69kg – Andriani Nunes – 382.5kg – BRONZE

84+kg – Stephanie Roderick – DQ

66kg – Tom Senior – DQ

93kg – Oskar Wencel – 745kg – 4th

93kg – Nickolas Towson – 657.5kg – 6th

105kg – Hector Willcocks – 667.5kg – 5th

Men’s team – 5th

Women’s team – 9th

OPEN

57kg – Ellie Steel – 540kg – SILVER

63kg – Kathryn Hall – 520kg – SILVER

69kg – Lauren Elder – 490kg – 7th

76kg – Angela Ricciardi – 500kg – 5th

76kg – Angharad Fraser-WIlliams – 492.5kg – 6th

84kg – Leanne Richards – 545kg – 5th

93kg – Mathew Hallett – 830kg – 8th

93kg – Angus Gardner – 772.5kg – 11th

105kg – Jack Johnson – 922.5kg – 5th

105kg – Hugo Duarte – 890kg – 6th

120kg – Jack Barber – 932.5kg – 5th

120kg – Dominic Coman – 917.5kg – 7th

Men’s team – 5th

Women’s team – 3rd

MASTERS 1

83kg – Nash Hunter – 630kg – 5th

83kg – Kevin Fletcher – DQ

93kg – Matt Coelho – 602.5kg – 4th

105kg – Mathew Dempsey – 762.5kg – 4th

120kg – Adrian Crafter – 757.5kg – 4th

120+kg – Craig Coggle – 735kg – BRONZE

63kg – Gemma Salter – 402.5kg – GOLD

63kg – Amber Hinchelwood – 347.5kg – SILVER

76kg – Sara Bradley – 445kg – 4th

84kg – Rachael Horton – 477.5kg – GOLD

84+kg – Jacqui Rees – 497.5kg – SILVER

Men’s team – 2nd

Women’s team – 1st

World record bench – Rita Shergold – 100kg

World record total – Rita Shergold – 385kg

World record bench – Maureen Gordon – 130kg

MASTERS 2

57kg – Helen Hughes – 435kg – GOLD – 2nd Best Lifter

63kg – Karen Fender – 322.5kg – SILVER

69kg – Catherine Burroughs – 382.5kg – SILVER

84+kg – Denise Westbrook – 340kg – BRONZE

74kg – Bernard McGurk – 652.5kg – GOLD – 3rd Best Lifter

83kg – Jasvinder Singh Cheema – 647.5kg – GOLD

83kg – Adrian Murphy – 615kg – 4th

Men’s team – 1st

Women’s team – 1st

MASTERS 3

47kg – Jenny Hunter – 227.5kg – GOLD

57kg – Allison Hough – 315kg – GOLD

63kg – Rita Shergold – 385kg – GOLD – 2nd Best Lifter

69kg – Yvonne Treharne – 330kg – GOLD

76kg – Maureen Gordon – 405kg – SILVER

84kg – Melissa Wall – 325kg – SILVER

84+kg – Jackie Blasbery – 407.5kg – GOLD

59kg – John Maxwell – 485kg – GOLD

74kg – Allen Ottolangui – DQ

Men’s team – 8th

Women’s team – 1st

MASTERS 4

93kg – Kevin Jane – 522.5kg – GOLD – 2nd Best Lifter

Men’s team – 2nd

BRITISH SUB-JUNIORS AND JUNIORS CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIPS 

As the championship nears us, we wanted to provide you with some reminders from the organiser.

  • Spectators
    • Are not only encouraged to come but entry is free!
  • Live Scoresheet Link!
      • The Online scoresheet is set up with the following sections to allow spectators at home to keep up with the competition
        • Live
          The Live tab will provide information about each weight class / age class currently on each platform. This will allow everyone at home to see ranking, GL points and predicted total based on distinct separated tables
        • Flight
          The flight tab will display the current two flights on each platform. These tables will contain mixed weight and age classes based on the ordering in the flight list. Each platform will have its own table for their flight.
        • Session
          The Session tab will allow you at home to look at any session data through out each of the days and platforms. They drop down on the page will allow you to customize what session data you would like to see. You can choose what day, session and platform you would like to see. This will include information about days that have not happened yet if you wanted to look ahead to whos lifting and in what order.
        • Results
          The results tab contains unique tables for each weight / age class. Allowing you to quicky find results for any weight / age class you desire at any time
  • There is still a live request for Volunteers for the Wednesday set up as well as during the championships for the Thursday and Friday. 
    • If you would like to help please fill in the form to let them know you want to be part of something great.
  • As this is a National competition, a coaching licence will be required for anyone looking to be in the warm up and holding area.
    • Clarification on the coaching licence, as well as a video guiding you on how to apply, can be found on the new Coaching Licence page
    • It is extremely important that you check out the information in full as simple mistakes keep occurring, such as uploading certificates without applying for the licence
  • Equipped Taster stand
    • As with all our Nationals 2026, we will have a stand there for everyone to try out Equipped Powerlifting
    • Thursday and Friday we have Ray Bowring will be there guiding people through Squat suits, Bench shirts and knee wraps. Ray squatted 500kg in January and is only 1 of 3 men to have ever done that in the IPF. He is also coached by former World Champion, Equipped Open Team Head Coach and Ray’s Dad, Dean Bowring, so is extremely experienced and knowledgeable on all things Equipped.
    • When you see Ray, feel free to ask him to show you what this branch of the sport is about.

There is so much more information you can find about the competition on the Instagram page

Equipped development report 2026 

By Jacob Wymer

Following the Equipped Open Forum in January, we’ve been working on several avenues to help improve the visibility of equipped lifting and break down some of the barriers to entry.

 

Equipped Taster Stands

The Nationals 2026 will all have an Equipped Stand, providing an opportunity for you to try out equipment, ask questions and gain an insight into this side of the sport.

We had a great uptake at BUCS, with over 30 newcomers trying out bench shirts for the first time, and plenty of knees wrapped as well.

 

This week, Ray Bowring will be running the stand at British Juniors on Thursday and Friday. So please go see him if you’re interested in trying out some equipped lifting or learning more about it.

Then in June, I’ll be at the Masters all weekend, alongside Kim Cowell for some of the sessions as well.

Equipped Taster Sessions

Further to promoting equipped lifting at The Nationals 2026, we’ll also be running two taster sessions per quarter.

These will be a great opportunity for newcomers to try out equipment for the first time alongside experienced coaches and lifters.

This quarter’s sessions are:

We’ll publish full details for these sessions soon, but please do reach out if you have any questions in advance.

ENGLISH POWERLIFTING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2026

The English Championships over the last few weeks have been a fantastic showcase for powerlifting in England.

Across the English Bench, English Masters and English Open, the standard of lifting has been incredibly high. There were so many strong performances across all of the championships that it feels impossible, and probably unfair, to single out just one or two lifters. Instead, I’ve linked the full results so people can take a proper look through and appreciate just how competitive the lifting was.

What also deserves a real mention is the standard of the competitions themselves. These events do not happen without a huge amount of work behind the scenes, and the organisers, hosts, technical teams, volunteers, referees and loaders all played a massive part in making them run so well.

The English Bench took place at Moulton College on 4th and 5th April, hosted by Romi Basting and The Farm Powerlifting Club, who delivered a great event for the second year in a row. This year saw a record 260 entries, which is a brilliant reflection of the strength and growth of the bench community. Thanks also go to the North West team for supporting the tech and livestream.

The English Masters was held at Suthers School in Newark on 2nd May, and is believed to have been the first standalone Masters English Championships. Joe Feeney from Lincoln Lifting helped put the championship together, with Tom Townsend and West Midlands providing the tech for the event. It was great to see the Masters lifters given their own platform, and the standard across the day showed exactly why that matters.

The English Open then took place at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton on 9th and 10th May. Hosted by Daniel Jay, Tzveti Tzonova and the team at The Barbell Division, it was a really well-run event with clear attention to detail throughout. A particular thank you also goes to Tom Townsend, who gave up two weekends in a row to run the tech, following on from the Masters the previous week.

With such strong lifting and such well-run competitions, these championships have been a really positive reflection of where the sport is in England. Thank you to everyone who helped make them happen, and congratulations to all lifters who competed.

Looking ahead, the next English Championship will be the Sub-Junior and Junior Classic and Equipped Championships, taking place at The Engine Shed in Lincoln on 27th and 28th June. Entries are open until 31st May. Lifters who wish to be considered for Team England selection for the Commonwealth Championships this year are required to compete at this event, so it would be great to see strong entries across all categories, particularly from Sub-Junior female lifters.

CLEAN SPORT WEEK

May 11-17 is Clean Sport week in the UK and we would like to open up the chance for members to ask the questions they’ve been wanting to ask. 

We’ve posted several times on our announcements about Anti-Doping and the recent ADRV’s, but if you’ve missed them, check out some of the links below:

    • IPF Sanction release: Chinye

You can also find more Sanction release news items on the IPF website.

The clean sport week report will be full and detailed in the coming weeks, but to ensure you can engage with us during this week, please see a notice from our Antidoping lead Craig Coggle:

 “Clean Sport Week starts with transparency.

We know members have questions about testing, costs, athlete support, and recent anti-doping cases.

This week is not about slogans or pretending difficult conversations don’t exist.

It’s about explaining:

    • how testing works
    • where membership money goes
    • what athlete responsibilities are
    • how the federation supports clean sport
    • where we need to improve

We won’t get everything right immediately, but we are committed to being more open and more accountable.

If you have questions, ask them. We’ll answer as many as we can throughout the week.”

MENTAL HEALTH WEEK

May 11-17 is also Mental Health week and our Coaching Lead, Craig Spicer, has written an article on Mental Health and Coaching.

If you are a coaching working in British Powerlifting and would like to be part of the community, join the BP Coaching Community and engage with other coaches.

RECRUITMENT DRIVE

We have some exciting opportunities for Coaches to development their career pathways with recruitment opportunities from two of the International teams:

Click on the links to find out more and fill in the expression of interest. This provides the Head Coaches and Recruitment manager a chance to see who is interested in the role from which the team will select their staff.

WHAT’S COMING UP:

  • British Classic Sub-Junior and Junior Championships, 14-17 May, Surrey Sports Park, Surrey
  • World Classic and Equipped Bench Press Championships (all ages), May 23 – 31, Warsaw Poland
  • British Masters Classic Championships, June 6-7 in Oriam Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
    • Volunteers are needed, if you would like to be part of something great, let us know here

Check out all the upcoming championships from British Powerlifting and you can find all the International Competitions from the IPF Calendar.

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