Colton Engelbrecht Deadlifts 1,146 Pounds: The World Record Nobody Can Officially Count

Last week Colton Engelbrecht deadlifted 520 kilograms. That's 1,146 pounds.

The previous world record was 510 kilos, set by Hafþór Björnsson in 2025. Thor pulled that lift in a deadlift suit with straps. Colton pulled 520 in straps only. No suit. Raw.

The official record doesn't change. Colton's lift came on a fourth attempt, outside of competition standards, so it won't count on the books. That's the rule, and I'm not arguing with it.

But I'm saying what I watched. And if you follow this sport seriously, you need to pay attention to what just happened.

Who Is Colton Engelbrecht?

If you are coming to this from outside the powerlifting community, here is the short version. Colton Engelbrecht is a powerlifter competing at the elite level in the superheavyweight category. He isn't a strongman. He isn't a hybrid athlete. He is a powerlifter, and his sport revolves around three lifts: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift.

His deadlift has been exceptional for years. But 520 kilos puts him in a category that did not exist before March 28th.

What 520 Kilos Actually Demands

I want to give you some context on what this lift requires, because the number alone doesn't fully communicate it.

A deadlift at this weight demands near-perfect lat engagement from the moment the bar leaves the floor. Any early breakdown in the upper back and the bar drifts forward. Once it drifts, it is over. At 520 kilos, there is no recovering from a positional error mid-pull.

Grip is a real limiting factor at this level. That is part of why straps exist, and why the strap-assisted lift is distinguished from a double overhand raw pull. Colton used straps, which is standard for a lift of this magnitude. It still requires an elite hip hinge pattern, tremendous posterior chain output, and the ability to maintain full-body tension under a load that most people cannot physically conceptualize.

The lockout at the top demands glute and hip drive that very few humans can generate. At 520 kilos, the bar bends significantly before it leaves the platform. The athlete has to be patient, keep pulling, and trust the setup. Colton did all of it.

If you want to understand the mechanics behind an elite deadlift, the positions and cues that separate world-class pulls from good pulls, that breakdown is worth reading alongside this one.

Equipped vs. Raw: Why the Equipment Gap Matters

Thor pulled 501 kilos in 2020 in a deadlift suit, and then 510 kilos in 2025, also in a suit with straps. A deadlift suit provides meaningful carryover off the floor. The suit stores elastic energy as the lifter descends into position and releases it during the pull. Estimates vary on how much a suit adds at this level, but it isn't trivial. Some estimates put it at 20 to 40 kilos depending on the lifter's leverages and how well the suit fits their build.

Colton pulled 10 kilos more than Thor's best, without the suit.

That gap is significant. A powerlifter with less equipment out-pulled the strongest strongman on the planet at his most equipped. If you have been following the powerlifting vs. strongman conversation for any amount of time, you know this isn't a result anyone predicted at this weight.

The wrist straps Colton used are grip assistance only. They do not contribute to the pull itself. They keep the bar from rolling out of the hand during a max effort. That is their entire function. Everything else in that lift came from Colton.

Why It Didn't Count

Competition rules in powerlifting are specific about what constitutes an official lift. Sanctioned federations allow up to three attempts per lift in competition. A fourth attempt can be taken, but it doesn't count toward the official total or record books. Colton's 520-kilo pull was a fourth attempt, taken outside of official scoring.

This is worth understanding before the conversation devolves into debates about validity. The lift happened. The weight moved. The reason it isn't on the books is procedural, not physical. Colton physically did it.

Attempt selection at meets is one of the more strategic decisions in the sport. If you want to understand how that process works and why fourth attempts exist as a separate category, this breakdown on strategically planning your attempts for a powerlifting meet covers it in detail.

The Enhanced Games Conversation

There has been real discussion about whether the Enhanced Games will invite Colton to compete on a sanctioned stage. The Enhanced Games is a sporting competition that doesn't prohibit performance-enhancing drugs, with the explicit position that it is more honest about what elite athletes actually do. It has attracted interest from some of the strongest athletes in the world.

If Colton gets that invite and accepts it, the potential is there for a sanctioned world record in a format where the result goes on the books. That is worth watching. I hope it happens. He has earned the chance to do this where it counts.

The GOAT Conversation

I will say it plainly. Colton Engelbrecht may be the best powerlifter in the history of the sport. That isn't a hot take for the sake of traffic. It is where the evidence points.

Powerlifting has produced extraordinary deadlifters. The sport has a long history of athletes who defined what was possible at their time. But a raw pull at 520 kilos, even on a fourth attempt, outside of official competition, is a number that reframes the conversation about human physical capacity in this sport.

The official record still belongs to Thor. But the physical record, the weight that a human being has actually lifted in front of witnesses under real conditions, just moved. And it moved because a powerlifter put it there.

I have coached strength athletes for a long time. I have watched a lot of lifts. What Colton did on March 28th is the kind of thing you point to years later when someone asks where the sport changed. This is that moment.