Young weightlifter dreams of world record

A 17-year-old powerlifter from Telford has set his sights on one day breaking the world bench press record after winning a gold medal for Great Britain.

Harry Newby came first in his age category at the Bench Press World Championships in Warsaw last month, lifting 197.5kg - a personal best.

He said he had always enjoyed going to the gym, but competition "just added another level to it really and gave me something to work towards".

Newby entered his first event two years ago and said: "I made quite a lot of progress quite quickly, really."

He started training four years ago and the 6ft 3in (1.91m) teenager said he had been slowly building himself up.

Newby practices at a gym in Atcham and said the competitions gave him goals and stopped him being lazy.

"I always enjoy training at the gym and I always find it really fun," he said.

He also said his ambition was to one day claim the raw bench press record which has been held by American Julius Maddox since 2021.

His training regime involves eating a lot of meat and he said minced beef was his favourite.

Speaking about the competition, he said: "I think it's always a little bit scary not knowing whether you're going to be able to lift it or not."

But he said when the moment came "you're not really thinking about it very much" and he was only focused on lifting the next weight.

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