RENO, Nevada – An 88-lifter American delegation closed the 2026 IPF World Masters Classic and Equipped Powerlifting Championships with 74 individual medals, 46 of them gold, and team titles in 13 of the 16 team championships. US lifters set 29 of the 68 world records made at the championships, against a field of 483 entries from 41 nations. Canada was next in the gold count with 13.
Desmond Jordan posted the largest total of the championships in the equipped Master I 120kg class, 355/252.5/357.5 for 965 in squat, bench, and deadlift, 30kg over his previous best equipped total, and won the Master I best lifter award. Matthew Rodock (93kg, 842.5) finished second in those standings. Dale McLaren set a Master II world record in the 105kg total at 882.5 and won the Master II best lifter award, and the equipped men won all four of their team titles.
In classic, Michael Garozzo set three Master I world records in the 105kg class: a 328 squat, a 351 deadlift, and an 861.5 total, 29kg over his previous best total. Nathan Kulas won the 93s at 817 with a world record 337 deadlift and took the Master I best lifter award on GL points, ahead of Garozzo. Michael Tuchscherer posted the largest classic total of the championships, 890 in the 120s, and Carlos Mata (74kg, 687.5) and William Tenerelli (59kg, 555) gave the classic Master I men five titles and the team championship at the maximum 60 points.
Dayna McNeal won the women’s Master I 76kg class at 540 with a world record 245 deadlift and the division best lifter award. Joah Iannotta set a Master II world record in the 76kg total at 480, 13.5kg over her previous best, and Patricia Johnson (84+kg, 547.5) and Yvy Llambes (Master I 63kg, 472.5) added titles and second place in their divisions’ best lifter standings.
Seventeen US lifters set world records. Linda Franklin set five in the classic Master IV 76kg class, among them the squat at 137.5, the deadlift at 172.5, and the total at 390, a lifetime best by 12.5kg, and won the Master IV best lifter award. Eric Kupperstein set three Master III records at 59kg, in the squat at 175, the deadlift at 217.5, and the total at 452.5. Roberta Carlson (69kg) set two, in the deadlift at 186 and the total at 406. Chiaki Takada finished second in the Master III 47kg class at 307 with a world record 69.5 bench and won the Master III best lifter award on GL points. Keith Nautel (Master III 83kg, 675) and Michael Feldhaus (Master III 66kg, 520) set total records, and Kenneth Levine (Master IV 83kg, 140.5), Keith Taylor (equipped Master IV 105kg, 170), and Shelly Stettner (Master IV 63kg, 69) set bench records.
Michael Rodriguez won the Master III 74kg class in both classic and equipped. He set a classic world record 144 bench on October 16, and six days later equipped world records in the squat at 245 and the total at 645, with the equipped Master III best lifter award. Anthony Harris (equipped Master III 120kg) set records in the squat at 292.5 and the deadlift at 287.5, and Donna Marts set an equipped Master III squat record at 147.5 on her way to the women’s Master III best lifter award.
Richard Flaum, born in 1945, won the classic Master IV 66kg class at 305, 22.5kg over his previous best total. Gale Williams, born in 1947, won the women’s Master IV 69kg class at 300.
The classic women won all four of their team titles, as did the classic men. The equipped women won the Master I team title, and finished second in Master III behind Great Britain.
US lifters return to the platform at the 20th NAPF North American Bench Press Championships, October 28 to 31, in San José, Costa Rica.
Full results: IPF results. The session schedule and roster are on the event page.