Marina Cornwall produced a five-star performance at this month’s Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships in Canada, achieving a new world record along the way.
After clinching British, European and world titles already this year, the success in Vancouver topped off a fantastic 12 months for the Fratton lifter.
The 61-year-old came away with five gold medals and set a world record of 123kg in the dead lift – despite only weighing in at 45kg.
The achievement is made all the more remarkable by the fact she only took up the sport four years ago.
Cornwall said: ‘I broke a world record with the dead lift, so I’m absolutely over the moon with that.
‘I think its something we all hope to achieve but you never know what’s going to happen on the day.
‘You don’t know whether your back will be feeling tight or whether things are going to go according to plan.
‘I didn’t start off too well and I missed a couple of lifts.
‘My squats weren’t deep enough and I think I was a bit tight from travelling as well, so you’ve got to take all these things into account.
‘I was thinking “oh this isn’t going very well at all” but it ended up on an extremely good note. I was ecstatic to say the least to break a world record.’
Cornwall’s incredible rise within powerlifitng has stemmed from sheer determination after getting told she should retire from sport altogether in 2006.
A superb recovery has seen her not only take up this level of strength training but also break no less than 15 British records to date.
‘I got in my car after seeing a shoulder surgeon and burst into tears because I thought my career was over,’ said Cornwall.
‘The next day I felt really angry, so got a second opinion on it and here I am breaking records now.
‘I’ve still got the shoulder tear but I proved him wrong.
‘I now see a surgeon in London who deals with the Wasps rugby team.
‘He says I’m a brilliant example to those he treats because of what I’ve achieved with my tear.’
After a fantastic career in the sport so far, the Portsmouth powerlifter has no intentions of stopping there.
Instead, she is targeting bigger and better 2016.
She added: ‘I have the World Championships in the USA where I hope to retain my title – that will be the big one for me.
‘I’ve also got the British and European Championships coming up so I want to do the same there, too.
‘Now I’ve won these titles, I want to keep hold of them.’
Courtesy of: The News