Young Prince George power lifter already holds world record

“Getting the records is really cool and nice, and being able to do it has made me really happy, and I enjoy it a lot,” Hamel said.

“She did her first meet and she set a world record in the deadlift. And she’s also set some national records in the the bench press as well,” added Mike Webber, owner of XConditiong and Hamel’s coach.

Hamel intially joined XConditiong to train for figure skating, but she explains she quickly fell in love with power lifting, so she now does both sports.

“I was here when they were powerlifting and I went to one of the meets and I was hooked and wanted to do it,” Hamel explained.

Dreaming of setting world records is pretty common for most athletes, but achieving them is an entirely separate task. Webber says Hamel’s drive to improve is what sets her apart from the rest, and why she’s grown so much in a relatively short time of training.

“She’s dedicated. She comes 5 or 6 days a week, and she follows direction well. Her technique is really good, she’s just a natural athlete and she excelled so fast at it that she’s setting world records,” Webber said.

“There’s going to be more to come in her future, she’ll set more world records and more national records. She’s just a phenomenal talent,” he continued.

Part of her warmups include these high jumps.

What makes her accomplishment even more impressive is that she had to compete in a class above her age and weight. Webber explained because she is only 12 years old, no category exists for her to compete, but an exception was made for her to compete. Because of that, she competes in the female age 13-15 weight 44 kilogram category, and Webber added she isn’t even 44 kilograms.

“She’s super dedicated, which makes makes a difference. There’s good people and there’s great people: the great people are dedicated. She eats well, she sleeps well, she trains a lot, so everything she does is geared towards being successful,” Webber said.

As for Hamel, she certainly loves the sport and the work it takes to improve, but she added another big reason she’s so dedicated to the sport is the power lifting community she’s grown to know in her time both training and competing.

“(My favourite thing is) at every meet, getting to meet new people and get new friends and all that,” she said.

Hamel added she doesn’t know what specifically her future holds, but for now she’s just focused on the moment and continuing to improve. As for Webber, he believes that if she keeps it up, she could become a force to be reckoned with.

“She’s going to up her world record, probably, every meet she does. She’ll set a new world record because she’ll lift more than she did the last time. She’s got more and more world records to come,” Webber said.

Hamel’s next meet will be August 23 at XConditioning for “Summer Slam.”

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by Tommy Osborne

Young Prince George power lifter already holds world record

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