17-year-old Dunloy star Adam Gault crowned powerlifting WORLD CHAMPION

Dunloy teenager Adam Gault has been crowned world powerlifting champion

A 17-year-old from Dunloy has become a world powerlifting champion, producing the performance of his young career to defeat some of the strongest teenage lifters on the planet in a title battle decided by just 2.5kg.

Adam Gault has been crowned IPF U93kg Sub-Junior World Champion at the 2026 World Classic Powerlifting Championships in Sun City, South Africa — completing a remarkable rise from taking up competitive powerlifting at 14 to standing on top of the world podium three years later.

And the scale of the achievement is underlined by the competition Adam faced. At just 17, he was one of the youngest athletes fighting at the top end of the category: all but one of the other leading lifters were 18 years old.

Adam arrived at the championships ranked fourth among a field of 14 of the world’s strongest young lifters.

He left as World Champion.

World title decided on the final lift

There was almost nothing separating Adam and his closest rivals as the competition reached its dramatic conclusion.

American Ethan Cohen had amassed a 747.5kg total, while Mexico’s Dante Urquiza finished on 745kg and fellow Mexican Jean Carlo Espin on 742.5kg.

Adam’s chance to become World Champion came down to his third and final deadlift.

He needed 297.5kg.

He lifted it.

The successful attempt took Adam’s combined total to 750kg, putting the 17-year-old into first place and securing the world crown by only 2.5kg.

Just 7.5kg separated the top four lifters in the world — Adam on 750kg, Cohen on 747.5kg, Urquiza on 745kg and Espin on 742.5kg.

It was an extraordinary finish to an exceptionally tight contest, with Adam delivering when the world title depended upon one final lift.

A huge 35kg personal-best improvement

His winning performance was also a major leap forward from his previous competition best.

Adam completed:

• 270kg squat — a 7.5kg personal best

• 182.5kg bench press — a 12.5kg personal best

• 297.5kg deadlift — a 10kg personal best

• 750kg total — a huge 35kg improvement on his previous best of 715kg

Alongside his overall World Championship gold, Adam collected silver in the bench press and bronze in the deadlift.

But his contribution did not end with the individual medals.

Adam was one of five scoring lifters for Great Britain in the men’s Sub-Junior team competition. Winning his weight class secured the maximum 12 team points for GB, helping the squad finish as the second-best men’s Sub-Junior team in the world and earning Adam another silver medal.

Head GB team coach Tom Morgan said he was incredibly proud of the team’s performances at the World Championships and particularly pleased to see how Adam’s confidence and belief in himself had grown over the past year.

He believes there is much more still to come from the Dunloy teenager.

British records fall on the world stage

Adam did not simply return home with a world title.

His performance in South Africa also rewrote the record books.

The 17-year-old:

• broke the British Under-18 U93kg bench press record with 182.5kg;

• equalled the British Under-18 U93kg squat record with 270kg;

• equalled the British Under-18 U93kg total record with 750kg;

• became the holder of all Northern Ireland Under-18 U93kg records.

Those achievements sit alongside the complete set of British Under-16 U93kg squat, bench press, deadlift and total records he already holds.

Adam is now simultaneously the reigning World, British and Commonwealth U93kg Sub-Junior Champion.

For a teenager who entered his first Northern Ireland competition only three years ago, it represents an extraordinary progression.

From a first competition at 14 to the top of the world

Adam’s journey began when, aged just 14, he entered the Northern Ireland Bench Press Championships.

That performance earned him an invitation to represent Northern Ireland at the IPF Commonwealth Championships — coincidentally also held in Sun City, South Africa.

At only 15, Adam made the journey and returned home as the IPF Commonwealth U93kg Sub-Junior Champion, taking individual gold medals in the squat and bench press and silver in the deadlift.

His progress continued in 2025 when he was named Best Lifter and became U93kg Sub-Junior National Champion at the Northern Ireland Nationals.

Later that year, Adam finished second at the British National Championships, earning an invitation to join the Great Britain team for the European Championships.

What followed became one of the toughest experiences of his young career.

Adam became seriously ill with food poisoning during the Europeans and collapsed during his seventh lift.

Yet he returned to the platform and completed all nine of his attempts, eventually finishing sixth in Europe.

Less than a year later, he returned to the British Championships and became British U93kg Sub-Junior Champion, securing his place on the Great Britain team for the World Championships.

This time, there would be no sixth-place finish.

He returned to Sun City — the place where, at 15, he had become Commonwealth Champion — and at 17 became World Champion.

The team behind the teenager

Proud parents Alan and Sharon Gault, with son Adam

While Adam ultimately has to walk onto the platform and lift the weight himself, his family say the achievement has been built around a team of people who have invested in his development.

They have paid special recognition to Matthew from Max Out Powerlifting, whose coaching, expertise and commitment have played an important role in Adam’s progress.

The family have also thanked the representatives, coaches and support team from Team GB who worked with Adam throughout the World Championships, as well as the Northern Ireland Powerlifting Federation, which has supported and encouraged him from the beginning.

Great Britain’s team silver also reflects the combined performances of its young athletes and the work of the coaches, representatives and support staff around them.

Powerlifting has, Adam’s family say, given the teenager much more than medals.

Competing within the sport’s strict anti-doping and testing framework has allowed him to develop his strength in a structured, drug-free competitive environment, while the wider powerlifting community has provided a supportive place to develop discipline, resilience, confidence and respect.

Sacrifices behind the success

The numbers on the scoreboard tell only part of Adam’s story.

Behind the 270kg squat, 182.5kg bench press and 297.5kg deadlift are countless hours of training, recovery and food preparation.

While many teenagers his age are arranging nights out and social occasions, Adam regularly makes the decision to miss them to remain focused on his training and long-term goals.

Throughout it all, he has been supported by his family and life at the family’s Kingsbarn Farm in Dunloy.

For them, the pride is about considerably more than the medals hanging around his neck.

They are proud of the discipline, humility and determination Adam has shown throughout a journey which, in three short years, has taken him from his first competition in Northern Ireland to the pinnacle of his sport.

At 17 — competing against a field in which almost every one of his closest rivals was a year older — Adam Gault went into the World Championships ranked fourth.

He came out number one in the world.

And with the World, British and Commonwealth titles now all belonging to the Dunloy teenager, one of Northern Ireland’s most promising young strength athletes has already achieved something remarkable before even reaching his 18th birthday.