Kettering teacher is top of his class as he wins world powerlifting title

A Kettering teacher gave his rivals a lesson in lifting weights as he brushed aside the competition to be crowned a world champion.

Top powerlifter Stephen Fraher, who is assistant principal of Kettering Buccleuch Academy, took gold in the under-125kg raw category at the WPC World Championships this week.

He flew out to Portugal for the event in Trofa and came up against competitors from Germany, Spain and Italy on Tuesday (November 16).

And after a gruelling day - where he didn't finish lifting until 11.45pm - he was crowned a world powerlifting champion.

He said: "The day was the most mentally and physically challenging event I have ever being involved in.

"The length of the event meant that any preconceived plans I had about weight I was going to lift had to be completely re-evaluated.

"But in the end the lifts went well and I was able to come away with the best overall total for my category."

Mr Fraher, who is also a PE teacher at the Weekley Glebe Road school, equalled his total personal best of 732.5kg on his way to the title.

That total came after a best squat of 287.5kg, bench press of 160kg and deadlift of 285kg.

He first made headlines in 2019 when he was victorious at a strongest man event in Birmingham, flipping a 425kg tyre and completing 120kg stone lifts.

Since winning the Birmingham event in 2019 Mr Fraher competed for several titles, coming 8th in Britain's Strongest Man this year in the <120kg category.

And he also took home the title at the BPU British Powerlifting Championships 2021 (<125kg) and WPC European Powerlifting Championships 2021 (<125kg).

After becoming world champion he added: "I must say a huge thank you to all my friends and family for supporting me to get here, in particular my wife and children.

"Without them I wouldn’t have been able to do this."