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Photo credit: Dave McWilliams

Physics student, Sussex Hockey Club president and Sussexsport Sport Scholar Poppy Joshi can now add world champion powerlifter to her list of achievements, following a record-breaking deadlift in her category at the World Full Power Championships in Glasgow this weekend (3-4 November).

Poppy, who has been powerlifting since 2016, had set her sights on the record title after automatically qualifying for the Worlds event following a winning performance at the BDFPA Nationals earlier this year.

The first hurdle on event day was the weigh in; if you don’t make weight you don’t compete. Thankfully a strict routine of cardio and nutrition prior to the event meant that Poppy was perfectly on her 70kg target and cleared to compete.

Following a bench lift of 75kg, which gave Poppy her first personal best of the competition, it was time for the deadlift - her favourite lift of the day. Poppy’s intense training paid off as she went for the 171.5kg world record attempt.

She said: “I was expecting it to be really hard, but the second I started lifting I knew I had it in the bag, it flew!

“As soon as the down command came I waited for what felt like ages to see the three white lights change to let me know how it had gone, as soon as they lit up I knew I had got a new junior world record - I was so happy!”

Poppy finished the competition with the 70kg junior world champion and 70kg open world champion titles, as well as the world record deadlift in her category.

And she won’t be slowing down over the next few months, as she’s just been selected as a volunteer Leader for Sussexsport’s Sussex This Girl Can Leadership Academy and will also be training for her national qualification in British Powerlifting. But for now it’s back to studying and hockey, with another personal best since the weekend - as she arrived home from the Championships to discover that she got 100% in her first maths assignment of the term!  

• Find out more about Sport Scholarships at Sussex.