2022 was a fantastic year for powerlifting filled with all-time great performances, new world records, upsets, and more. In this article, we’re going to go over some of the top lifters of the year in the drug-tested classic powerlifting division as voted on by the King of the Lifts followers and our guests of the 2022 Year Awards podcast episode.
Community Picks
The community voted on our Instagram stories for the female and male lifter of the year for 2022 and the winners were Prescillia “Lya” Bavoil and Jesus Olivares.
Lya started off the year hot competing in the French Nationals as a light 69 kg competitor where she totaled 550.5 kg at 65 kg bodyweight which gave her a GL Points of 118.10. From there, she hit a low when she was unable to compete at the IPF Classic Worlds because she wasn’t able to make weight for the 63 kg class. But she had a major comeback performance at the Arnold UK when she made weight for the 63 kg class and broke the world record in the squat, deadlift, and total. Her 556.5 kg total at 62.6 kg bodyweight also gave her a GL Points of 122.26 which is the best ever on the women’s side.
Jesus also started off the year hot competing in the US Nationals in the 120+ kg class. He dominated the competition with a 450 kg squat, 257.5 kg bench press, and 402.5 kg deadlift for a 1,110 kg total. This total was only 2.5 kg below Ray Williams’ best total and actually 5 kg above Ray’s world record total. While Jesus had a down performance next at the IPF Classic Worlds, he was still able to win the world title easily. He totaled 1,022.5 kg including a 260 kg bench press to collect another open world title at only 23 years old.
Host Picks
On our 2022 Yearly Awards show, four of us made our case for our picks for female and male lifter of the year.
Rory Lynch went with Agata Sitko for his female lifter of the year including her accomplishments on the equipped side. And Rory picked Taylor Atwood for his male lifter of the year citing that Taylor won another national title, won another world title, and won the best lifter at IPF Classic Worlds without going all out.
Tori LaPerriere went with Lya Bavoil for her female lifter of the year citing her incredible comeback meet and how it’s the all-time best performance for a female. And Tori picked Bobb Matthews for her male lifter of the year citing how Bobb won the USAPL Nationals, is at the top of the USAPL Pro Series, and has the highest DOTS for the year.
Arian Khamesi went with Jessica Buettner for his female lifter of the year because she won the national title and then went on to win the world title going head-to-head against Agata Sitko and having to pull the heaviest deadlift in history in order to do so. And Arian picked Bobb Matthews as well for his male lifter of the year because he was able to win a national title, be at the top of the USAPL Pro Series, win the most money in the Pro Series this year, and have the highest DOTS for the year.
And 6-pack Lapadat also went with Lya Bavoil for her female lifter of the year because of her all-time best performance for a female at the Arnold UK. And 6-pack agreed with the community and went with Jesus Olivares for this male lifter of the year because of his incredible performance at the US Nationals and achieving so much at a young age.
If you want to hear a more detailed breakdown of our picks for lifter of the year as well as all our other awards, then be sure to check out our 2022 Yearly Awards podcast available now on all platforms.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/king-of-the-lifts/id1358913731?mt=2
https://www.stitcher.com/show/king-of-the-lifts/episode/2022-year-in-review-awards-210334985
