IT HAS been an emotional week for Matthew ‘Panda’ Smyth as he claimed the title of World’s Strongest Disabled Man.
Lifting weights of up to a mind-blowing 800kg, Bournemouth's Smyth took the crown last weekend in Birmingham, winning the Magnús Ver Magnússon Adaptive Strength World Championship.
Holding off the man who beat him by just half a point to the British title in September and was defending champion, Smyth said his achievement is yet to sink in.
“I've got the trophy on the table,” he told the Daily Echo.
“I'm staring at it whenever I eat and it just hasn't sunk in yet whatsoever.
“I spoke to one of my neighbours earlier on and I showed them my trophy and I just started crying, it's just so raw.”
Competition began with the farmer’s hold, something Smyth describes as a ‘horrible event’ and his worst of the weekend, which saw him hold 110kg in each hand for as long as he could, taking third place for a strong start.
But it went from his worst to his best event, as the 32-year-old cruised to an event win in the one-rep max axle shoulder press, lifting 142.5kg to win by a huge 25kg margin.
Up next was the sled drag and Smyth took another event victory.
“The sled drag was 350kg,” he said.
“Again, event win. I've not been beaten in sled drag in about two and a half years now!”
After a big refuel at Wagamama’s on the evening of the first day of competition, Smyth returned to the NEC in Birmingham with his eyes firmly set on the title.
“Day two was an interesting day,” Smyth explained.
“I spoke to my coach on Saturday night and he told me I need to come top two in the events on day two to win the competition and become world's strongest.
“Going into day two, knowing what I've got to do and knowing deadlift for reps is one of my strongest events, I was feeling confident.”
For the deadlift event, athletes would be required to deadlift weights placed in an ice bath behind them.
The starting weight for the event was 400kg, and with every rep, 25kg would be added to the bath.
“We got informed that the highest weight we’ll go to is 800kg, a weight never been lifted before like that,” Smyth said.
“So it will take 16 reps, to get from the start weight to 800kg. And me being the confident person I was feeling on the day I go and what happens if we get to 800? Do we just start doing it for reps?
“Quite a few people were blown away at that comment.
“At the individual athlete briefings, we all got told, if we make it to 800kg, we're just going to have to rep it, and whoever gets the most amount of reps wins.”
Smyth eased his way to the 800kg – and then did five reps at that weight to take second place in the event behind the defending champion, Dave Walsh.
“Going into the final event, the Atlas stone event, where I was leading the championship, I went last, so I knew what I had to do,” Smyth said.
“The last stone was 155kg, and only the old world champion had done it, no one else could shift it.
“I knew going into that event, as long as I could move that Atlas stone from table to table over my lap, I knew I'd won that championship.”
And Smyth sealed the title in some style, taking the event win.
“The moment [the 155kg stone] lands, I hear the whistle go, so my run’s over,” Smyth said.
“The next thing I remember is I'm leaning on the barrel to my left, sort of supporting my head, and I'm crying.
“I can't breathe. I don't quite know what to do. And then I get pushed in the strongman wheelchair behind the backboard so I can get into my normal wheelchair, and I can't hold myself up, I'm crying so hard.
“I've just won the world championships.”
The strongman embraced his dad and rang his coach to break the news, before recovering to take to the podium.
He said: “It's the best feeling in the world.”
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