Rhaea Stinn has done it.
The Moose Jaw powerlifter broke through on the sport’s biggest stage during the July 10 weekend, winning gold at the World Games in Birmingham, Ala. to claim the last major event title missing from her resume.
And she was able to do it in style, too, going nine-for-nine in her lifts while setting yet another world record in the bench press and a personal best in her three-lift total.
It went almost as well as the 34-year-old veteran could have hoped and added an exclamation point to an already amazing 17-year career.
“Yeah, it was a really incredible experience,” Stinn said. “The World Games is always a little bit different than a world championship because it’s every four years and there are so many different sports around, it just feels like a bigger more prestigious event than a regular world championship. And going in, I was feeling good. Training had been relatively good, as good as it can be, and I was looking forward to competing.”
Stinn knew she was going to be in for a battle, though -- slotted into the superheavyweight division, two of her competitors were the reigning gold medalist from 2017 in Bonica Brown from the U.S. and silver medalist Tetiana Melnyk from Ukraine.
But the World Games works on a weight-lifted-to-bodyweight formula, meaning that if Stinn could put up numbers proportional to the 83.2 kilograms she weighed in at, a medal was definitely in the cards.
“I knew it was going to be close between myself and the U.S. and Ukraine, but I just was focused on sort of doing my own thing and making my lifts and that went really well,” Stinn said, adding that her nine-for-nine showing was the first in at least six years. “So that was a good feeling in and of itself. And then to come out with a PB total and the world record in the bench and then a gold medal at the end? I really couldn’t ask for more.”
Stinn started with a 255-kilogram (561-pound) squat before clearing a world all-time best 227 kg (499.4 pounds) on the bench and 215 kg (473 pounds) in the deadlift. That gave her a 697.0 kg (1,533 pound) total and, most importantly, 110.01 points in the bodyweight formula.
Through it all, Stinn simply took the advice of husband Ryan Stinn and brother Ryan Fowler as they worked through the weights she needed to lift and paid attention to the standings throughout the competition.
“They dealt with the numbers, they looked at the score sheet, I just knew I needed to go and make attempts and they would put weight on the bar that they thought I was capable of that day,” Stinn said, adding that the plan let her focus solely on the lifts and not worry about anything else. “So the number calling was spot on, I didn't have much left in squat or bench for sure. deadlift there was maybe a little bit more there. But we just wanted to make my third attempt to try and push the American to have to pull as much as she could, and hopefully, it was out of reach.”
Turns out, it was. But by the closest of margins, and not without some controversy.
Brown appeared to clear her final attempt in the deadlift to win gold, with platform judges giving it to her on a two-to-one decision. The jury quickly reviewed the lift, though, and overturned the decision.
Leading up to that point, Fowler thought she had won silver -- still not bad, given it was her first medal after finishing fifth in heavyweight in 2017, fourth in 2013 and sixth in 2009.
Then, all of a sudden, it was pure elation as the jury decision was revealed.
“It was just a whirlwind of emotions,” Stinn said. “I was like ‘okay, I did all I can and I placed second and that’s alright and then whoa, what? The jury is overturning that lift?’ and then all of a sudden I’ve won gold.
“That’s part of the sport, it’s a strange situation and there are questions about the call, but at the end of the day, that's what the referees decided. That's why they're there, to try and call it as fair as they could and it just worked out my way.”
As seems to be the case at most events Stinn attends these days, the gold medal wasn’t the only highlight. There weren’t any surprise Hall of Fame inductions this time around, but a pretty neat little coda to the whole thing on top of the success, as Stinn was selected as Canada’s flagbearer just prior to the World Games opening ceremony.
“That was definitely up there on the highlight reel,” she said. “There was a group of all of the Canadians that were at the opening ceremonies trying to decide who was going to be the flagbearer, and there was a girl who was her third World Games, and then me with being at my fourth, everybody decided ‘okay, she seems like the one to do it’. So that was a pretty neat honour.”
Being able to check out all the other events -- the World Games act as a highlight for international sports that aren’t featured in the Olympics -- was another major highlight.
“it was cool to get to connect with some other Canadian athletes,” Stinn said. “We got to watch some other Canadians compete as well, stuff like bowling and floorball. So just some different sports that you wouldn't normally necessarily get a chance to go see.”
With the World Games title, Stinn has officially won all there is to win in the sport of powerlifting, including multiple world championships. But she has no intention of hanging up the weight belt just yet, not while there’s still improvement to be made and goals that can be achieved.
“That’s something lots of people have been asking me lately, they're like ‘alright, are you done?’” Stinn said with a laugh. “But there's always more weight to put on, and it was sort of a weird situation in my for my total and this competition because I had a personal best in the tota but none of my individual lifts were personal bests. So I feel like there's still more there, I have a higher total I can hit, and that keeps me motivated.”
And with that, it’s back to planning and preparing. The Open World championships are in Denmark in the fall, and since the pandemic delayed the World Games by a year, that event will take place again in only three years.
“Three years away seems doable, too,” Stinn said. “So that's definitely sort of a little bit longer term, but until then I’ll keep going and keep that on the sight line.”
