On Sept. 24, 2022, during the 2022 Arnold Strongman (AS) UK in Birmingham, England, strongwoman Rhianon Lovelace captured a 261.5-kilogram (576.5-pound) axle deadlift. The pull is a World Record in the heavyweight and 64-kilogram weight classes. Lovelace already owned the record in her own class and notched that mark of 233.5 kilograms (515 pounds) from the Clash Pro Series 2022 Clash of the 64s this past May.
Per a post on her Instagram, Lovelace competed at the 2022 AS UK with a body weight of 63 kilograms (138.9 pounds). That means Lovelace’s axle deadlift World Record was 4.1 times her body weight. Lovelace worked from a conventional stance while utilizing a lifting suit, lifting belt, and lifting straps to help with her record pull.
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To celebrate her record and winning the first-ever Arnold Pro UK title a day before, Lovelace couldn’t seem to find the appropriate words to describe her historic achievement in an initial Instagram post.
“I have no words,” Lovelace wrote. “To hit the [record] after competing for two days and winning the first ever Arnold Pro UK, I’m speechless.”
As the athlete would later note, she decided to reflect on and be appreciative of her journey and resolve in another post.
“After competing for two successful days (with tough competition, so I couldn’t take it easy) to win the Arnold Pro Title, running off three hours of sleep, I was doubting myself,” Lovelace wrote. “I knew I was going to need to go somewhere dark to get this done.”
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Even without her axle deadlift World Record and Arnold Pro title, it was already quite the successful 2022 competitive year for Lovelace.
In late May 2022, during the British Powerlifting Union (BPU) Single Lift British Championships, Lovelace broke the British raw powerlifting deadlift record with a pull of 241 kilograms (530 pounds). Later, while competing at the 2022 Berkshire’s Strongest competition in mid-July 2022, Lovelace broke the overall strongwoman deadlift World Record with a pull of 282.5 kilograms (623 pounds) — exceeding her own record from the 2020 Strength Shop Record Breakers contest by over 20 pounds. (Note: The athlete won both contests.)
Finally, in August 2022, she won her fourth consecutive Britain’s Strongest Woman title. She has not lost that contest since making her debut in 2018.
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Now in possession of a larger axle deadlift World Record, Lovelace was not shy in expressing what her accomplishment at a major international contest might have meant for strong women on a wider scale.
“We are witnessing the dawn of a new era of Strongwoman!” Lovelace wrote. “A time where the best Women are welcomed to the biggest stages in the sport, witnessed by thousands. The rise of strongwomen!”
Featured image: @rhianon.lovelace.kaosstrength on Instagram
