Vegan Strong combo take records and titles at Mr America

The growth of the Vegan Strong Plantbuilt team seems almost inevitable, although the vegan power surged to a new level as they eclipsed last years’ record 41 medals and took 55 this time.

‘Vegan Meathead’ Daniel Austin got a total of 570kg in the 82.5 kg category.

Elite performances led to records falling in powerlifting.

Jerry Stanley went international as he broke the world record in the deadlift in his class with a 300 kg lift!

Sarah Kashdan also broke a national record with her deadlift, and she took three Golds.

Strongman competitors had a ball with a fantastic set of results.

Trident prizes were available for head to head strongman events, Ric Carroll followed his recent regional victory and national success with a Trident win and Andrew Keys won a Gold Trident.

Tom Butts followed his win at the World Strongman Games with Bronze in the Men’s Open Middleweight class. Melissa Busta recently won the Strongman Nationals and she added a 1st place trident in the Open Women’s Middleweight class, while the accomplished Angeline Berva won a gold trident in the Open Women’s Heavyweight.

Alongside the record breaking powerlifters, Nick Squires (110kg) left with a total of 771 kg and eight medals while Katya Gorbacheva was best overall female lifter.

Brittany Billings also took two Golds – as did Michelle Carlson.

Vincent Crapello took four Golds and Ndem Nkem lifted a 646 kg total including a Gold in deadlift.

The Kettlebell team also manage to bag an awesome medal haul. 16 were Gold and there were also four ‘best of’ titles.

Alex Shopov won Gold in 2 x 16 kg long cycleand Justin Karstetter won Gold in the 16 kg snatch. Seven-time world champion Jennifer Hintenberger won women’s best long cycle with 418 reps in the 20 kg one-arm long cycle event and Steven Riddle won men’s best long cycle. Nicholas Thick won the men’s best marathon title.

Among the veterans, 67 year old Geri Hintenberger, took Gold in the 12 kg one-arm long cycle Tim Bell won Gold in the 20 kg snatch. Hege Jenssen showed awesome recovery, taking Gold in two events – 2×12 kg long cycle and 20 kg snatch!

Sara Lee won the women’s “Most Weight Lifted” title after shifting a total 15,896 kg in 55 minutes. That’s almost 16 tonnes!

New to the bodybuilding team, Evelyn Santos won the Open bikini class and earning multiple pro cards. Maddie McConnell followed her recent win at the world championships with second in Pro Figure and Daiane Ozorio took third place in Women’s Pro Wellness. Shelli Beecher-Seitzler, Tammy Albanese and Alice Robeson all showed some extremely high standards too.

The Vegan Strong PlantBuilt team had grown from a relatively small and inspiring initiative to the current levels, with the medal haul growing strongly each year. It’s something that Founder and bodybuilder Giacomo Marchese has worked towards, and he sees the benefits in changing perceptions.

“As more people see the success that the Vegan Strong PlantBuilt team has at Mr. America and other competitions, they will realize that plant protein can take you to the elite levels of their sports,” he says. “You can be a champion athlete and still be compassionate.”