John Terragni ’65 Sets the World Record in Bench Press
At the World Classic Powerlifting Championships, in Helsingborg, Sweden in June 2019, John Terragni ’65 set a new bench press world record for the Masters 4 (age 70+) -74/163 weight class.
He benched 111kgs/244 lbs. With his best squat of 140 kgs/308 lbs and deadlift of 165kg/363lb, he won third place overall. John’s attempts at the Worlds in Sweden can be viewed here.
For those unfamiliar with the sport, powerlifters perform three events: the squat, the bench, and the deadlift. A lifter has three attempts for each, with the heaviest successful attempt being counted. Contestants place in the individual disciplines, and, at the end of the competition, the best of each lift is added together to make the lifter’s “total.” In conjunction with gender, weight classes, and age groups, the total determines placing in these so-called full-power events. The same applies to bench press in single-lift competitions, but only for the one event.
This was John’s debut in international powerlifting. He competes for the Danish national team, which is his country of residence since 1975. John began weight training as a 70-year-old, in 2017, after a hip replacement ended his decades-long pastime of road running. His first powerlifting meet was the Danish Nationals in September 2018. He currently holds the Danish national powerlifting records in his age and weight class in squat 142.5kg/313lb, bench 115kg/253lb, and total, 422.5/929. In addition to the bench press, he holds the single-lift competition, record of 117.5kg/258lb, all of which were set in September 2019. The International Powerlifting Federation rules prohibit world records being set at national meets.
John trains five times weekly under the guidance of Danish “open” powerlifter Nicki Lentz. He is looking forward to the upcoming World Classic Powerlifting Championships in Sun City, South Africa, in April 2020 and the World Bench Press Championships in Pilsen, Czech Republic in August 2020. Congrats to John and good luck in April and August!
Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.
