Tom Smith clinches World Para Powerlifting Championship crown

Tom Smith has been crowned a world para powerlifting champion.

The 20-year-old was taking part in the World Para Powerlifting Championships in Georgia as part of the Powerlifting GB Team, looking to follow up his success in the world cup in Manchester earlier in the year.

Smith, a former Cambridge Regional College student who is a member of staff with the University of Cambridge Sports Service, was taking part in the junior competition in the men’s up to 54kg category.

In Tbilisi, he started off at 122kg, and went on to finish with a best of 130kg to earn first place ahead of Kazakhstan’s Azizbek Zamirbek Uluu and Russia’s Aiaal Sivtsev.

“This year has provided a lot of challenges and for me it is about how I adapt and how I meet those challenges,” Smith told paralympic.org. “It’s all good experience with me being at a young age. Hopefully it’s just the start of something big now.”

It has been a memorable year for Smith, who was named the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme athlete of the year at the TASS Stars awards after successfully combining his studies at CRC with the standout performance at the Para Powerlifting World Cup.

In an interview on the TASS website before the world championships, Smith said: “My two proudest achievements this year were achieving gold at the 2021 Manchester World Cup and achieving a distinction in all assignments throughout the academic year. Being able to balance education and training is hugely important to me.

“I am hoping to put myself in the frame for the Paris 2024 Paralympic cycle which begins in September. This is something which I am now focusing on and looking to achieve during the next three years.”