Although he may be relatively new to the world of weightlifting, a Barrie man has his sights set on breaking a world record at his next competition.
Mitchell Hopper heads to Cardiff, Wales this week to compete against 11 other elite strongmen at the World Deadlift Championships. “We’re all looking to pick up a little over 1100 pounds and set a new world record,” Hopper said. “I’ve done 1050 in training so percentage-wise, I’m not far off, but yeah, we’ll see what happens on the day.”
Hopper is no stranger to weightlifting records. At 26, Hooper said he placed first in every Strongman and Powerlifting competition he entered and broke several national records, including a 475kg deadlift and a 232kg atlas stone.
Last year, Hooper took gold at the Static Monsters world competition with a new world record total of 670kg.
This time, he said he is more focused than ever.
“A couple of years ago, when I was running marathons, it was also completely out of my realm of possibility,” he added. “It’s about doing a little bit more every day and seeing where it takes you, there’s a lot of recovery, a lot of eating, just training.”
Hopper said he will leave on Thursday, Aug. 4 before next weekend’s competition.