Moose Jaw lifter needs votes to be crowned ‘World Games Athlete of the Year’

Bench pressing 105 kilograms is no easy feat.

Especially when the person under the bar wasn’t even planning on training her bench press that day.

Nevertheless, Rhaea Stinn barely breaks a sweat as she lifts and lowers the weighted bar with ease at the end of her Friday evening workout. In fact, the weight load is nearly 100 kilograms less than what she lifted when she was crowned the 72 kg Open Bench World Champion last year.

That victory is just one of the reasons she’s been nominated for the 2019 ‘World Games Athlete of the Year’. In the final stage of the competition, in which a winner will be determined by public voting, Stinn currently sits in third place with over 45,000 votes.

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“Being nominated for the Athlete of the Year has been a really cool experience. I’ve gotten tons of support from people all over the world, supporting powerlifting and supporting me,” Stinn said.

Stinn first started weightlifting 17 years ago. She says she’s seen competitive success ever since, but that her career has been kicked into overdrive over the past two years. In 2019, she captured two world powerlifting titles.

“She works harder than anyone else I know, she’s basically in the gym five days a week, usually for two to three hours at a time,” said Stinn’s husband and fellow powerlifter Ryan. “That’s inside the gym and out with proper eating and sleeping habits.”

Stinn is in the process of training for the next World Games in 2021. She’ll have the chance to qualify for the event, which like the Olympics happens every four years, later in 2020. Until then, and beyond, she says she’s focused on pushing her own boundaries and those of her sport.

“There’s always more weight to put on the bar, you can always put more weight on. Regardless of whether you’re a new lifter or have been doing it for 17 years, you can always get a little bit stronger.”