After years of chasing it, Dublin High School graduate Levi Bamber claimed a world bench press record at the Texas State Championship in Odessa, cheered on by his wife and daughter, who also set state records of her own.
The record Levi was looking to beat was the biggest bench press in the men’s 148 unlimited for a full powerlifting meet.
The record was previously set by Kevin Harmon in 2013 with 610 lbs. Before that, it was Joe Ceklovsky in 2008 with 600 lbs. (Levi had the third spot with a 584.2 lb. lift in 2022 before breaking the record.)
The Dublin Citizen reported on a near miss by Levi in May 2022 at the IPA Baddest Bencher on the Planet competition where he was raising 611 on bar and dropped it as he pressed up.
The Dubliner achieved it at the Saturday, July 22 IPA State meet while getting personal bests in all three categories: 611 in bench, 672 in squat and 567 in deadlift. (This was also the first time he was able to increase his deadlift weight in 10 years.)
Levi started this attempt on shaky ground, starting at 405 in the warmup and almost missing out as he lifted 495.
“On [lift] two, I barely squeaked out,” he admitted.
He turned to his wife, Courtney and daughter, Jessa and said, ‘I gotta figure out what’s going on. What’s going wrong?’
Between his second and third sets on the bench, Levi put on his headphones, tried to clear his mind and put his emotions in check.
Despite the early issues, Levi told them to load 611. It paid off as the spotters took their hands off the bar.
“When he said, ‘it’s yours,’ I knew I had it,” Levi said. “Then there was the flood of emotions. When I sat up, my baby and Courtney were right there. It was a big deal for all of us in the family.”
Jessa, 12, has been in the gym with Levi and Courtney since she was a baby and has been witness to her dad’s road to the record.
The July 22 IPA meet in Odessa was also her first appearance as a lifter in the 12-13 year-old teen division. In total, she lifted almost four times her body weight (67 pounds) with a squat of 104, a bench of 30 and deadlift of 126. She set records in each individual event as well as the total for her division.
Courtney joined her family in setting personal records on all her lifts and got the top spot in the women’s 181 class.