Welcome to this edition of Top-Up Tuesday.
Future editions will continue to arrive on Tuesdays, but they will not follow a fixed weekly or monthly schedule. I want Top-Up Tuesday to remain a useful and sustainable way of sharing important news rather than something produced simply because another Tuesday has arrived. New editions will therefore appear when there is worthwhile news to share and I have the capacity to prepare them properly.
European Bench Press Championships
The following report was written by Jo Whiteley, with our thanks for bringing together the achievements of such a large British team.
Team GBR absolutely smashed it over in Lithuania at the 2026 European Bench Press Championships. We have eight brand new European Champions heading home with another 28 big benchers proudly bearing silver and bronze medals.
Special mention goes to the classic M2 women, the equipped open women and the equipped M1 women’s teams who all won Gold in the Team Award in their respective categories.
We are proud of all of our benchers but one performance in particular deserves highlighting.
Kate Sweatman pressed a colossal 250kg to extend her own world record by an incredible 9.5kg. No surprise, this also got her the Best Lifter award and led her team to victory. Three time world champion (two in bench press + one in powerlifting), surprisingly this is Kate’s first European title. Kate already had the biggest bench in the IPF but this makes her the biggest female single-ply bencher in the whole world. A phenomenal achievement.
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Open
52kg – Amila Dissanayake – 80kg – 7th
57kg – Zijun Chen – 110kg – 🥉
57kg – Sheina Kaye – 90kg – 9th
63kg – Emily Cakebread – 87.5kg – 4th
76kg – Amy Martin – 97.5kg – 12th
76kg – Amy Wright – 100kg – 10th
84+kg – Caitlin Davies – 105kg – 10th
74kg – James Miller – 155kg – 4th
83kg – Lucas Stolle – 205kg – 🥉
93kg – Dominic Onimowo – 202.5kg – 6th
105kg – Cejai Lindsay – 222.5kg – 4th
105kg – Wesley McGuinness – DQ
120+kg – Ben Gibson – 245kg – 🥈
120+kg – Adam Clarkson – 237.5kg – 6th
Men’s Team – 5th place
Women’s Team – 10th place
Junior
69kg – Regina Gotiam – 92.5kg – 5th
69kg – Jessica Bean – 90kg – 6th
76kg – Violet Stones – 90kg – 4th
84kg – Taiya Fadare-Green – 100kg – 🥉
84+kg – Aulderney La Pierre-Carmichael – 100kg – 🥈
74kg – Oli Gledhill – 182.5kg – 🥈
74kg – Nathan Bennett – 180kg – 🥉
83kg – Anderson Lai – 172.5kg – 8th
93kg – Tyler Heath – 170kg – 12th
120kg – William James – 182.5kg – 7th
Men’s Team – 6th place
Women’s Team – 4th place
Sub-junior
63kg – Maria Al-Khoury – 52.5kg – 4th
69kg – Gabriella Flory – 87.5kg – 🥈
84+kg – Freya Weldon – 57.5kg – 🥉
66kg – Sam Gowland – 142.5kg – 🥈
66kg – Ayaan Shahid – 142.5kg – 🥉
83kg – Hari Tampin – 157.5kg – 6th
93kg – Liam Peck – 162.5kg – 4th
105kg – Ben Crellin – 175kg – 🥈
Men’s Team – 4th place
Women’s Team – 4th place
Masters 1
69kg – Amy Chadaway – 77.5kg – 4th
84kg – Tiana Ettienne – 95kg – 🥉
84kg – Kelly Fysh – 75kg – 5th
84+kg – Jen Lang – 95kg – 6th
84+kg – Fiona Gaffney – 92.5kg – 7th
93kg – Aleksei Parakhoniak – 187.5kg – 🥈
93kg – Jonathan Shayler – 150kg – 9th
105kg – Norbert Kulczycki – 175kg – 6th
120kg – Ryan Dixon – 187.5kg – 5th
120kg – Ferenc Schlepp – 177.5kg – 6th
120+kg – Ross Shahin-Ajerlo – 205kg – 4th
120+kg – Matt Southern – 177.5kg – 6th
Men’s Team – 4th place
Women’s Team – 2nd place
Masters 2
52kg – Angelina Lane – 57.5kg – 4th
69kg – Beverley Rodgers – 100kg – 🥇 – British Record – 3rd place Best Lifter
69kg – Karen McKendry – 77.5kg – 🥉
76kg – Georgina Palmer – 67.5kg – 4th
84kg – Helen Carrington – 80kg – 4th
84+kg – Kelly Phasey – 60kg – 5th
93kg – Kevin Rack – 147.5kg – 6th
120kg – Sean Gaffney – 160kg – 6th
120kg – Scott Simon – 225kg – 🥇 – British Record – Best Lifter
M2 Men’s Team – 7th place
M2 Women’s Team – 1st place
Masters 3
76kg – Liz Elfleet – 40kg – 4th
93kg – Mark Macey – 117.5kg – 4th
93kg – John Cooper – 95kg – 6th
105kg – Chris Cooper – 150kg – 4th
105kg – Wade Lowther – 115kg – 6th
M3 Men’s Team – 3rd place
M3 Women’s Team – 7th place
Masters 4
83kg – Stephen Vineburg – 102.5kg – 4th
M4 Men’s Team – 8th place
EQUIPPED CHAMPIONSHIPS
Open
74kg – Alex Fodor – 205kg – 🥈
83kg – Callum Gibson – 205kg – 6th
93kg – James Taylor – 225kg – 5th
105kg – Callum Clohessy – 190kg – 7th
120+kg – Craig Coggle – 262.5kg – 7th
52kg – Amila Dissanayake – 120kg – 🥈
63kg – Jodie Cook – 152.5kg – 🥇
69kg – Karolina Jarosinska – 105kg – 10th
76kg – Kimberley Cowell – DQ
76kg – Rachel Steedman – 157.5kg – 🥈
84kg – Elena Bell – 97.5kg – 6th
84+kg – Katrina Sweatman – 250kg – 🥇 – WORLD RECORD – Best Lifter
Men’s Team – 5th place
Women’s Team – 1st place
Juniors
83kg – Adam Coyne – 182.5kg – 🥈
105kg – Thomas Hawkins – 185kg – 🥉
120+kg – Zack Graham – 247.5kg – 4th
120+kg – Brandon Lee – 220kg – 5th
63kg – Violet Clarke-Waller – 87.5kg – 6th
Men’s Team – 4th place
Women’s Team – 10th place
Masters 1
83kg – Ben Richens – 180kg – 4th
105kg – Patrick Furphy – 205kg – 4th
57kg – Kate Clarke – 85kg – 🥈
63kg – Amber Hinchelwood – 80kg – 🥈
69kg – Delyth Jones – 122.5kg – 🥇 – 2nd Best Lifter
84kg – Ros Lyon – 92.5kg – 🥈
84kg – Caroline Buckle – DQ
84+kg – Sarah Knight – 142.5kg – 🥇- 3rd Best Lifter
84+kg – Fiona Gaffney – 65kg – 🥈
Men’s Team – 6th place
Women’s Team – 1st place
Masters 2
57kg – Emma Stott – 85kg – 🥈
69kg – Wendie Kirkland – 110kg – 🥇
76kg – Georgina Palmer – 105kg – 🥈
84+kg – Denise Westbrook – 87.5kg – 5th
93kg – Andrew Miles – 155kg – 5th
105kg – Martin Green – 225kg – 🥉
120kg – Darren Ball – 245kg – 🥈
120kg – Sean Gaffney – 197.5kg – 4th
Men’s Team – 3rd place
Women’s Team – 2nd place
Masters 3
63kg – Rita Shergold – 95kg – 🥇 – Best Lifter
Women’s Team – 4th place
Congratulations to every lifter who represented Great Britain and thank you to all the coaches, referees and supporters who contributed to the championships.
World Junior Championships
Our junior and sub-junior teams also produced an outstanding set of performances at the World Championships in Sun City, South Africa. Jo Whiteley has again provided the full results summaries and listings.
In the equipped championships, Fabian Costea became Sub-Junior World Champion in the 105kg class with a 772.5kg total. Andriani Vourla Nunes earned junior silver at 69kg, while Stephanie Roderick took bronze at 84+kg. The team also returned with a number of individual lift medals and new British records.
The classic teams brought home two Sub-Junior World Champions: Zhaine Miller and Adam Gault. Matthew Pond, Emmanuel Olatunji, Peter Mendy and Joshua Ngoka all became Junior World Champions. Joshua was also named Best Lifter following a 980.5kg world-record total, while Peter finished second in the Best Lifter standings.
There were further World and European records from Zhaine Miller, Ayana White Nwankpa, Emmanuel Olatunji and Joshua Ngoka. The men’s junior team won the team title, while both classic sub-junior teams finished second.
EQUIPPED SUB-JUNIORS
52kg – Marcia Lane – 310kg – 5th
83kg – Oliver Armstrong – 495kg – 6th
105kg – Fabian Costea – 772.5kg – 🥇
Marcia Lane – SJ British squat record – 125kg
Marcia Lane – SJ British total record – 310kg
Fabian Costea – SJ British squat record – 292.5kg
Fabian Costea – SJ British total record – 772.5kg
Men’s team – 7th place
Women’s team – 11th place
EQUIPPED JUNIORS
69kg – Andriani Vourla Nunes – 432.5kg – 🥈
84+kg – Stephanie Roderick – 577.5kg – 🥉
93kg – Oskar Wencel – 747.5kg – 5th
105kg – Nickolas Wencel – 660kg – 4th
Stephanie Roderick – Jr British squat record – 255kg
Stephanie Roderick – Jr British bench press record – 137.5kg
Stephanie Roderick – Jr British total record – 577.5kg
Men’s team – 7th place
Women’s team – 7th place
Huge congrats to the equipped sub-junior and junior teams and a big thanks to the coaching team.
CLASSIC SUB-JUNIORS
57kg – Lhamo Weston – 315kg – 🥈
57kg – Vera Vaida – 272.5kg – 4th
63kg – Ayana White Nwankpa – 453kg – 🥈 – 2nd Best Lifter
63kg – Abigail Davie – 300kg – 8th
69kg – Lily-Jo Hampton – 302.5kg – 5th
69kg – Dene Lombaard – 282.5kg – 6th
76kg – Morven MacLean – 402.5kg – 🥉
76kg – Bethany Denning – 237.5kg – 6th
84kg – Lily Edge – 320kg – 5th
66kg – Dakota Bessent – 575kg – 4th
66kg – Jake Scott – 550kg – 9th
74kg – Zhaine Miller – 703.5kg – 🥇 – 3rd Best Lifter
74kg – Maverick Riches – 600kg – 14th
83kg – Jeremy Lin – 662.5kg – 5th
93kg – Adam Gault – 750kg – 🥇
93kg – Will Quoroll – 677.5kg – 8th
120kg – Conor Cremona – 722.5kg – 4th
120kg – Jonathan Dowling – 720kg – 5th
Zhaine Miller – SJ squat European record – 260kg
Zhaine Miller – SJ bench press World record – 171kg
Zhaine Miller – SJ total European record – 703.5kg
Ayana White Nwankpa – SJ deadlift World record – 200.5kg
Ayana White Nwankpa – SJ total British record – 453kg
Men’s team – 2nd place
Women’s team – 2nd place
CLASSIC JUNIORS
52kg – Talulah Royston-Battaglia – 425kg – 🥈
52kg – Abby Cooley – 392.5kg – 5th
57kg – Annabelle Cox – 407.5kg – 9th
63kg – Martha Marsh – 440kg – 7th
69kg – Hannah Davies – 455kg – 10th
76kg – Ella Dronfield – 502.5kg – 4th
76kg – Qian Yu Phang – 477.5kg – 10th
84+kg – Nevaeh Iroghiendo – 522.5kg – 5th
84+kg – Jameliah Oseki-Simms – 512.5kg – 7th
74kg – Matthew Pond – 712.5kg – 🥇
74kg – Ping Hao Ng – 695kg – 🥉
83kg – Kacper Walesa – 760kg – 4th
83kg – Sam Walker – 755kg – 7th
93kg – Emmanuel Olatunji – 830kg – 🥇
93kg – Thomas Skillicorn – 792.5kg – 8th
105kg – Peter Mendy – 892.5kg – 🥇 – 2nd Best Lifter
120kg – Joshua Ngoka – 980.5kg – 🥇 – 1st Best Lifter
120kg – Rudi Norris – 807.5kg – 9th
Talulah Royston-Battaglia – Jr squat British record – 157.5kg
Talulah Royston-Battaglia – Jr total British record – 425kg
Abby Cooley – Jr deadlift British record – 180kg
Matthew Pond – Jr bench press British record – 192.5kg
Emmanuel Olatunji – Jr deadlift European record – 372.5kg
Joshua Ngoka – Jr squat world record – 373kg
Joshua Ngoka – Jr bench press British record – 220kg
Joshua Ngoka – Jr deadlift British record – 387.5kg
Joshua Ngoka – Jr total world record – 980.5kg
Men’s team – 1st place
Women’s team – 5th place
Big thanks go to the coaches, referees and supporters who travelled with the team.
These results reflect an enormous amount of work from the athletes and the people supporting them. Congratulations to the entire team, and thank you to the coaches, referees and supporters who travelled to South Africa.
Looking ahead to the British Open
Preparations are continuing for the SBD British Open Classic at the NEC in Birmingham from 4–6 December with the register interest form being available within the coming weeks.
This year, the competition will include Special Olympics Classic Powerlifting as a flight within the main British Open competition. This is an important step in ensuring the event represents and respects the full breadth of classic powerlifting in Britain.
We look forward to welcoming lifters, coaches, officials, volunteers and supporters to what should be a fitting conclusion to the domestic competition year.
Remembering Charlotte Reynolds
We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Charlotte Reynolds on 16 July.
Charlotte contributed to powerlifting over many years, both at the competition table and through the support she gave to her husband, Mick Ellender, throughout his international lifting career. For ten years, she also managed the administration for the Masters Equipped Team while Mick served as its Team Manager and Head Coach.
Charlotte gave a great deal to the sport, often quietly and behind the scenes, and her contribution will be remembered by many across British Powerlifting. Our thoughts are with Mick and those who knew and loved her.
