British Men's Classic Team at Bench Worlds - Preview

The World Bench Press Championships 2023 are in the lush surroundings of Sun City, South Africa.  With packs of banded mongoose skittering across the lawn, baboons on the roof and the endless sunshine of the African veldt, this will be a memorable competition for those bench specialists making the long trip south.  Here is the men's classic team.

We have three sub-juniors making the trip and a full junior team, most of whom are in their first international.  Two though are returning sub-junior world champions, now moved up to the juniors, Max Wadsworth in the 105s and Marcus Thornton in the 120s.  It will be interesting to see how they deal with the transition.

In the open class, we begin with Andrew Ward, for his third back to back appearance at World Bench.  He has moved up the rankings each time and he's nominated comfortably in third - could this be his year to reach the podium?

Jaideep Wasu will be representing GB for the first time in the 83kg class and in the 93s we have Harrison Sparks, fresh out of the juniors.  He is nominated mid-field but those nominations are tightly packed and he could make up some significant ground here.

Ashley Watson in the 105s and Ben Gibson in the 120+kg class are both new to international competition too but we also have the return of one of the best beards in British Powerlifting, Ross Shahin-Ajerlo.

In the Masters, keep an eye out for Andrew Day in the M1 105s - he's got a real shot at a podium place.   And of course Andy Rigby - man of many weight classes and even more records.  He won in the 120kg class last year, breaking the M3 world record along the way.  Cheekily, he then won the Euros a few months later in the 105kg class and broke THAT world record too.  Andy is in the 105s this time and he is nominated a long way ahead.

At 30 members, this is a huge team heading overseas - good luck guys - remember to enjoy it!