{"id":30450,"date":"2026-09-30T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=30450"},"modified":"2026-09-30T00:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T00:05:00","slug":"local-powerlifter-headed-to-bench-press-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=30450","title":{"rendered":"Local powerlifter headed to Bench Press World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n\t\t<amp-iframe id=\"nxs-video-iframe-6\" data-frame-src=\"https:\/\/www.news10.com\/sports\/local-powerlifter-to-compete-at-bench-press-world-championships\/amp\/12219772\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" layout=\"responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/redir1.news10.com\/nxs-video\/vid-anvato-12219772\/embed\/?post_id=3151767&amp;injected_via=amp&amp;autoplay=true&amp;preroll=true&amp;aspect_ratio=landscape\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><span placeholder=\"\" class=\"amp-wp-iframe-placeholder\"\/><noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"nxs-video-iframe-6\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" src=\"https:\/\/redir1.news10.com\/nxs-video\/vid-anvato-12219772\/embed\/?post_id=3151767&amp;injected_via=amp&amp;autoplay=true&amp;preroll=true&amp;aspect_ratio=landscape\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/iframe><\/noscript><\/amp-iframe><\/p>\n<p>LATHAM, N.Y. (<a href=\"http:\/\/news10.com\/\">NEWS10<\/a>) \u2014 Following your passion can lead to unexpected places. About two-and-a-half years ago, Grafton native Darrick Gagnon developed a passion for powerlifting, and it\u2019s about to take him on an international excursion.<\/p>\n<p>Over the summer, Gagnon received word that he had been selected to the USA Powerlifting National Bench Press Team. The 27-year-old La Salle Institute graduate, who you\u2019ll find training four days a week at ABC Iron Gym in Latham, is preparing to head out for the 2026 IDFPA Bench Press World Championships in Iceland next month.<\/p>\n<p><amp-video-iframe src=\"https:\/\/mmamp.news10.com\/avi\/?key=q8jzkgxj\" width=\"16\" height=\"9\" layout=\"responsive\" heights=\"(max-width:610px) calc( 56.25% + 95px ), (max-width:768px) 410px, 56.25%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This is an opportunity Gagnon admitted he was surprised by. He didn\u2019t specifically set out to make this team, but he was invited back in July, and now gets the honor of not only competing against some of the top powerlifters in the world, but doing so while representing his country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s astonishing. It\u2019s something that I do every day, something that I enjoy, [and] to be able to go out and represent the country in any fashion is incredible,\u201d said Gagnon. \u201cTo win is the ideal representation. Also, to maybe finally bench 500 pounds on a platform, like in an actual competition. That\u2019s kinda the biggest one. Even if I don\u2019t go out there and win, being able to bench 500 pounds in a competition is probably top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gagnon will be heading out to Iceland soon. The World Championships run from Oct. 16-18.<\/p>\n<p><amp-iframe width=\"11\" height=\"1\" class=\"pbs-sync-pixel\" layout=\"fixed\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.amspbs.com\/load-cookie.html?source=amp&amp;bidders=appnexus%2Crubicon%2Cpubmatic%2Cix%2Cttd%2Copenx%2Cmedianet%2Cnativo%2Ckueezrtb%2Ctriplelift%2Cminutemedia%2Csharethrough%2Ctaboola&amp;args=account%3A3\"\/>\t<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news10.com\/sports\/local-powerlifter-to-compete-at-bench-press-world-championships\/amp\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LATHAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) \u2014 Following your passion can lead to unexpected places. About two-and-a-half years ago, Grafton native Darrick Gagnon developed a passion for powerlifting, and it\u2019s about to take him on an international excursion. Over the summer, Gagnon received word that he had been selected to the USA Powerlifting National Bench Press Team. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1561,"featured_media":30451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-powerlifting-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Local powerlifter headed to Bench Press World Championships - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=30450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Local powerlifter headed to Bench Press World Championships - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LATHAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) \u2014 Following your passion can lead to unexpected places. About two-and-a-half years ago, Grafton native Darrick Gagnon developed a passion for powerlifting, and it\u2019s about to take him on an international excursion. Over the summer, Gagnon received word that he had been selected to the USA Powerlifting National Bench Press Team. 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