Wānaka’s Romy Guichard strained her way to a record when she squatted 188kg — the weight of a small dairy cow — winning best overall junior woman at the 2026 New Zealand Powerlifting Federation age nationals in Auckland, last weekend.
‘‘I was very zen, more zen than I’ve been in years for a comp, which was great,’’ Ms Guichard said.
Her peace of mind came despite a dislocated knee suffered when dismounting a bar stool at her kitchen bench, an injury more common for her following a serious knee injury in 2021.
‘‘I squat with it totally fine in competitions.
‘‘But as soon as I’m doing something not cool, like standing or walking, I dislocate it,’’ Ms Guichard said.
She believed she had dislocated her knee 15 times, including after simply standing up from a toilet.
Despite the pain, Ms Guichard squatted 188kg, bench-pressed 105kg and deadlifted 210kg, to win the overall title.
Ms Guichard comes from a sporting family — her father, Alex, was a strong amateur cyclist and her brother Carter is on the path to becoming a professional cyclist in Europe — but turned to weight-lifting to strengthen her knee.
‘‘I switched to powerlifting because I couldn’t ski or do anything that fun any more.’’
In addition to the national record set last weekend, Ms Guichard also holds Commonwealth and Oceania records, and is now deciding whether to compete at the junior world championships in South Africa, the Commonwealth powerlifting championships in Canada or open nationals against older competitors.
Ms Guichard was supported by her partner, team-mates and family at the competition.
