Ben Pape has been clawing his way up the British squat rankings ever since he moved up to the 105s post lock down. Currently, he sits in the top 20 all time British squat rankings and only one man has ever done more in this weight class.
At Classic Worlds in Malta, Ben capitalised on his biggest asset pretty well, opening with 312.5kg, hitting great depth and coming up smooth and quick. 330kg slowed him down a little but his position didn't deviate and he moved him into second place. 335kg wasn't there for his third but, in the end, only Anatolii Novopismennyi - the world record holder - squatted more and Ben took the silver medal.
Ben matched his best competition bench on on his second lift at 190kg but 192.5kg hit an invisible wall and he couldn't finish it off. Never his best lift, Ben had slipped back to 7th after bench with a fierce battle raging ahead of him.
However, although he is a little over shadowed by the wealth of deadlift talent in the 105kg class in BP, he has a handy pull and he brought that to bear from the off as we headed into the final lifts of the competition. His 330kg opener flew and he went all the way up to 355kg for his second. A big jump maybe, but one he is familiar and comfortable with.
355kg moved well - obviously heavy but not quite at the limit yet - and 362.5kg went on the bar for his final lift of the day. Only 2.5kg more than he pulled at the Euros in Poland but it only went as far as his knees before he just ran out of steam and had to return the bar to the platform.
875kg total got him seventh place overall and he picked up the deadlift bronze medal too. These might have been his first medals at the world championship level but we know they won't be his last.
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