Vegans Thriving. Elite Vegan Athletes
Itir Atadiyen is an extremely successful mountain runner and sky runner in her home nation of Turkey.
She is known for running longer distance races of 10 km up to and beyond marathon. Most races have brutal height gains, routinely exceeding 1000 metres. Read More... “Itir Atadiyen, vegan sky runner”
Veronique Cormier has established herself as a leading powerlifter in her home nation of Canada.
She competes in the 57 kg category. At 18 she competed at the Eastern Canadian Championships and at 20 she hit the nationals (Junior class). She lifted a total of 312 kg there and went on to the Pan American Championships that year. Read More... “Veronique Cormier, vegan powerlifter”
Mirsad is one of a large and growing number of extreme distance athletes competing internationally on a vegan diet.
His talent for running has been evident since youth. In 1989 aged 15 he won a national championship in cross country running. Read More... “Mirsad Abdakovic, vegan long distance runner”
Anabelle is an American long distance runner born in Puerto Rico who has competed at all levels in Masters running over a range of distances.
Since 2000 Anabelle has taken wins and set course records at local racing. She is a member of Philadelphia Masters Track & Field, and races for the Mid Atlantic Association. Read More... “Anabelle Broadbent, vegan runner”
Unsal is a Turkish boxer who currently lives in Germany and fights at Super Welterweight. Since he gave up meat he has become the IBF European Champion, WBU World Champion and GBU World Champion. Later he turned vegan and since then has won the UBF European title twice, WBC Asia title and the BDB International German title. Read More... “Unsal Arik, vegan boxer”
Alina is a successful track athlete competing at national level in her home nation of Israeli, and internationally.
She was Israeli national champion for the 110 m hurdles three times (2017., 2018 and 2019) and she competes overseas. She is the 5th fastest nationally of all time in this event. Read More... “Alina Drozdov, vegan track athlete”
David has become a high profile athlete in track and field, competing internationally. He has competed over several distances with most success over 400 metres individually and in 4 x 400 metres relay. In the 2016 Rio Olympics he helped the US team to the Gold medal. Read More... “David Verburg, vegan track athlete”
Cam Newton is a quarterback, playing American football in the USA’s NFL for the New England Patriots. He’s become established as one of the players of his generation with some fantastic NFL records.
He has the NFL record for quarterback rushing touchdowns (67) and the most games in NFL history with a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown Cam is the first player in NFL history with at least 250 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, one passing touchdown, and one rushing touchdown in a single game. Read More... “Cam Newton, vegan American Footballer”
Budjargal Byambaa is an ultradistance runner who runs extreme distance events over several days. In doing so he covers enormous distances at impressive speeds.
In 2013 Budjargal broke the 24 hour national record for his home nation of Mongolia after completing 182 km, and he has completed the 10-day Sri Chinmoy race five times. Read More... “Budjargal Byambaa – vegan ultradistance runner”
Hollie is an incredibly strong powerlifter who has achieved some amazing lifts. Competing in the ~48kg category, she has squatted 105kg and benched 60kg. Her deadlift is over three times her bodyweight at 155kg.
Unsurprisingly, Hollie feels that her deadlift is her greatest achievement. Read More... “Hollie Kempton, vegan powerlifter”
Elena competes in track and field, representing Spain in the Paralympics in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Born with a degenerative visual condition, she qualifies for the T12/B2 categories.
Elena is known for her remarkable versatility as she has competed in long jump, 100 metres and marathon. Read More... “Elena Congost, vegan runner”
Making his mark on cricket in his home nation of Australia and abroad, Kane has become a hot property. He’s sought after in the exciting short forms of the game and has become a household name. The right-arm medium-fast bowler has represented his nation in 25 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 26 T20 matches (as of March 2021). Read More... “Kane Richardson, vegan cricketer”
Dawid Kawka is a Polish powerlifter who made his mark on the 2020 National Championships with some enormous lifts.
Competing at 74kg with the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF), Dawid squatted more than three times his bodyweight at the Championships to break the national Polish record with a 250 kg squat. Read More... “Dawid Kawka, vegan powerlifter”
Lewis Hamilton is established as the leading Formula One driver of his generation and one of the all-time greats. He’s taken numerous wins and Championships.
By 2020 he was a six-time World Champion (the second most of all time) with 88 individual race victories. Read More... “Lewis Hamilton, vegan racing driver”
Ana Cufer is recognised as a world class runner in one of the most demanding of disciplines – mountain running.
The Slovenian is established member of the national team and has represented her country in international events. In 2016 she began to make a significant impression on the sport with three course records among 12 wins. Read More... “Ana Cufer, vegan mountain runner”
Massimo Lepardi is known as someone who has worked hard to promote veganism in Italy through education – and by example as an internationally competitive athlete.
Unlike many athletes who have been active in a sport since childhood, Massimo started training in diving at age 49. Read More... “Massimo Lepardi, vegan diver”
Fia Kamlund has built up some amazing strength to bring her success in powerlifting. Competing in the 84kg category in both raw and equipped categories she has achieved a 430 kg raw total in competion and 512.5kg equipped.
These international level totals have brought her success in her home nation of Sweden, where she is national champion in equipped lifting. Read More... “Fia Kamlund, vegan powerlifter”
Established in the NBA, basketball’s Wilson Chandler is recognized as an entertaining and effective player capable of making a great contribution to his team’s performance.
He currently (in 2020) plays for Brooklyn Nets and has previously represented New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets as well as playing in China. Read More... “Wilson Chandler, vegan basketball player”
John Rush is an American footballer established, playing fullback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
John played successfully at college from 2011 to 2015 and went on to play for the Blue Bombers in 2016. Over the next few years he was recognised as a regular team player as well as donating a lot of time to charity and community events. Read More... “John Rush, vegan American footballer”
Kim Best has taken on the challenging and at time brutal sport of strongwoman with determination, and made an impression in a short time.
Competing in her debut competition at Scotland’s Strongest Woman 2018 Kim developed a taste for the sport and a year later she placed second. Read More... “Kim Best, vegan strongwoman”
Diana Taurasi is a national and international women’s basketball player who has achieved amazing things across a fulfilling career.
At 37 (in 2020) she plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women’s National Basketball Association (USA). She has won three Championships, one WNBA Most Valuable Player Award, two WNBA Finals MVP Awards and four Olympic Gold medals. Read More... “Diana Taurasi, vegan basketball player”
Hege Jenssen is a pro level kettlebell competitor who has competed in her native Norway as well as in international competition. She’s done particularly well in snatch, and on her debut in the professional class took 5th at the World Championships, and she’s also taken the bronze medal at the European Championships. Read More... “Hege Jenssen, vegan kettlebell athlete”
Sahyuri (Sahy) Lalime is an accomplished Belgian powerlifter with Japanese-American roots who has competed nationally and internationally, achieving fantastic totals.
In 2018 and 2019 she won best overall female powerlifter at the Belgian Nationals and she has also competed at the IPF World and European Championships. Read More... “Sahy Lalime, vegan powerlifter”
Adam is one of the most respected spin bowlers of his generation, representing South Australia and the Australian National team. He’s also had success in the 20 Twenty format in some of the most competitive competitions on the globe. Adam played with Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder, and went on to take a highly contested place in the Indian Premier League. Read More... “Adam Zampa, vegan cricketer”
Belgian Mountain Biker Frans Claes competes nationally and internationally, and is established as a leading biker in his sport.
He has been Belgian Champion twice (2015 and 2016) and was the overall winner at the UCI World Series Marathon in 2017. Read More... “Frans Claes, vegan mountain biker”
Cleanthony is a professional basketball player who has played in the NBA and Hungarian league.
He was an All-American college player at Wichita State University. In 2014 he was selected with the 34th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the New York Knicks. Read More... “Cleanthony Early, vegan basketball player”
Sofia Jokl is an experienced competitor in Japanese Ju-Jitsu, competing in the Duo-System at European and World level.
The Duo system involves pairs of competitors demonstrating self defence against attacks randomly called by a referee. Speed, realism, control and power are among the qualities judged. Read More... “Sofia Jokl, vegan Ju-Jitsu expert”
Melissa Sundermann, has been competing in cycling, running and multisport events – completing epic distances at elite times.
She was the first Amateur woman at the REV3 Ironman triathlon where she finished with a personal best of 10:57:20, crossing the line with her husband and children. Read More... “Melissa Sundermann, vegan endurance racer”
Alex is established as one of the most successful players of her generation in women’s soccer – with success at national and international level.
She started playing for the California Golden Bears while at University before being drafted as the overall number one in 2011. Read More... “Alex Morgan, vegan soccer player”
Shelli Beecher-Seitzler is a natural bodybuilder who has made an impressive impact on the sport in a short time.
After several people suggested she compete, she started training six days a week with the aim of competing. After five months she entered the 2018 INBF NW Royal Natural Bodybuilding Championship. Read More... “Shelli Beecher-Seitzler”