Massiah took the title via a 360.5-kilogram pull.
Last updated on October 8th, 2024
British Powerlifter Nathaniel Massiah has been powerlifting since 2022, quickly rising through the rankings. Massiah won his first world title at the 2024 International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) Junior World Championships (JWC) in St. Paul’s Bay, Malta, and scored a Junior world record raw deadlift, too.
Massiah competed in the classic (more commonly referred to as “raw”) Junior 93KG class and was heavily challenged by USA’s Brandon Jones. Jones’s final deadlift of 320 kilograms gave him an 845 kilogram total. To win, Massiah, the heavier lifter, needed a colossal 360.5-kilogram deadlift to sneak past by half a kilogram.
Massiah gestured to the crowd for support as he approached the platform. They gave him what he wanted, bellowing their encouragement.
Massiah set up in a conventional stance and took the barbell in a mixed grip. The bar was slow from the floor but kept moving to lockout with no hint of a sticking point. As the white lights shone out over the platform, Massiah celebrated his victory with a backward somersault, leaping over the bar to scream defiance and triumph at the crowd.
The Junior deadlift world record in the 93KG class had only recently been set. It had stood untouched since 2013 until UK lifter Jonathan Lewis broke it with 355.5 kilograms at the 2024 Euro Muscle Show in Amsterdam in July. However, chipping the record wasn’t enough to secure the Junior World title, so Massiah had to push it to 360.5 kilograms.
2024 IPF Junior World Championships Results — Nathaniel Massiah, 93KG | Raw
- Squat
- 270 kilograms
- 285 kilograms
- 292.5 kilograms
- Bench Press
- 180 kilograms
- 187.5 kilograms
- 192.5 kilograms
- Deadlift
- 320 kilograms
- 347.5 kilograms
- 360.5 kilograms — IPF Classic Junior World Record
- Total — 845.5 kilograms
Messiah remains a Junior in 2025, so he will have plenty of opportunities to extend his deadlift record. However, he is not on the roster for the European Powerlifting Federation (EPF) European Junior Championships, currently underway in Czechia.
Entries remain open for the British Powerlifting (BP) British Open Classic Championships, held in Wolverhampton, UK, in November 2024. Massiah isn’t listed at the time of this article’s publication, but he now has the third-highest total in the 93KG class in BP; he may decide to pit himself against the best Britain offers.
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