ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland – A 135-lifter American delegation closed the 23rd NAPF North American Championships with 126 medals, 89 of them gold, and topped the country team standings in 17 of the 28 contested categories to Canada’s 11. US lifters set 47 records over six days at the Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland, three of them world records, and took 19 of the meet’s 30 best lifter awards.
Joshua Joachim (105kg) posted the largest classic total of the championships, 393/192.5/380 for 965.5 in squat, bench, and deadlift, with the 393 squat a world record. Teammate Keenan Lee finished at 927.5 for an American one-two in the class. Carter Wheat produced the only four-figure total of the meet in the equipped 120+ class, 425/295/340 for 1060; his squat and bench were the two heaviest single lifts anyone made in St. John’s.
Angelo Fortino took the 83kg Open title by 96kg over Costa Rica’s Marlon Mora Piedra, closing at 322.5/175/341 for 838.5 with continental records in the squat and deadlift. At 120kg, Brendan Todd won at 952.5 against Canada’s Philippe Blier at 917.5, giving up the bench in the process, 242.5 to 232.5, and taking the class on the squat and the deadlift.
American women won four of the eight classic Open classes. Criselda Facundo (57kg) set records in the bench, the deadlift, and the total at 152.5/107/198.5 for 458, Rachel Mulumba claimed the 76s at 517.5, and the opening day went to Jocelyn Eng (47kg, 388.5, best lifter) and Arielle Patra (52kg, 400).
The Sub-Junior division returned more gold than any other, 20 titles. Mariele Arthur squatted a world record 176 in the classic 63kg class and finished with four records and a 457 total; Matthew Lim deadlifted a world record 340 at 83kg for 752.5. Equipped lifting accounted for 31 of the delegation’s golds, led by Cabe Parham at 888 in the 93s and Carson Frnka, who set three records taking the Sub-Junior 120kg title at 827.5. Two more women’s Open titles came in equipped competition, Stephanie Brunkhorst at 545 in the 84s and Chelsea Green at 370 in the 76s, bringing the delegation’s women’s Open total to six. In the masters ranks, Allison White won the Masters I 84+ class at 525.5 with a record 223 deadlift and the division best lifter award.
The Special Olympics division opened the championships on August 3 and returned eight titles. John Engebretson posted the largest total in the division, 237.5/152.5/207.5 for 597.5 at 105kg, with further golds to Dion Thomas (93kg, 445), Noah Duplichan (83kg, 365), Matthew Hammond (120kg, 365), Adrian McGhee (66kg, 362.5), David Berube (59kg, 272.5), Tyler Halpert (120+kg, 410), and Patrice Lockhart in the women’s 84+ at 195.
Sixty-three years separate the youngest and oldest Americans on the card, and both left Newfoundland as continental champions. Alexander Galant, born in 1947, won the equipped Masters IV 66kg title at 252.5 and the best lifter award that went with it. Ada Gaskill, born in 2010, took the equipped Sub-Junior 76kg class at 410 in her first international appearance.
Five world records were set at these championships and American lifters accounted for three of them, all in the youngest and the deepest of the classic divisions. The 44 continental records that followed came from 26 different US lifters across Sub-Junior, Junior, Open, and Masters, in both classic and equipped competition. US lifters also finished ahead of Canada in the individual medal count, 126 to 94.
US lifters return to the platform at the 2026 IPF World Masters Powerlifting Championships, October 14 to 25, in Reno, Nevada. Full results from St. John’s are on the event page.
Full results: powerlifting-america.com/north-americans