'I went in there and pretty much crushed it:' Yellowknife powerlifter continues winning streak

For Sousanh Chanthalangsy, representing her home city of Yellowknife is a proud and weighty responsibility.

But as a powerlifter, she is more than up for the challenge. 

Chanthalangsy began powerlifting a few years ago, and attended her first competition in February 2020 in Manitoba.

"I went in there not knowing what to expect, and then I ended up winning gold in my weight class," she said. "And then also at the end, I ended up getting overall best female lifter."

At this type of powerlifting competition, the title of best female lifter goes to the woman who lifted the most weight over the course of the competition — combining her squat, deadlift and bench press scores.

After that victory, Chanthalangsy was looking forward to doing more competitions:

"But then the world shut down."

So she put those plans on hold for a couple years, staying in Yellowknife and focusing on her training. But this year, she is back in the game. 

"I said to myself — okay, it's 2022, I'm almost turning 40, and I really want to do a couple more competitions before I hit 40," she said. 

In January, Chanthalangsy competed in Saskatchewan, where she won gold in her weight class and the title of best female lifter. 

This February, she did the same thing again in Alberta.

"I went in there and pretty much crushed it," she said. 

At that competition, she bench pressed 231 pounds, deadlifted 452 pounds and squatted 440 pounds.

"It's really good to know that all the training that I've been doing up here is actually paying off," she said.