Male Powerlifter Sets Another Women's Record At Canadian Championship; Riley Gaines, Martina Navratilova React

A male athlete has set yet another women's national record in Canadian powerlifting.

Anne Andres — a biological male who identifies as a woman — won first place in the Canadian Powerlifting Union's 2023 Western Canadian Championship on Sunday. There, Andres set both a Canadian women's national record and an unofficial women's world powerlifting record.

This is Andres' 10th first-place finish out of 12 competitions.

To calculate a competitor's total score, officials add together their top weights in the squat, bench press and deadlift. Competing in the Female Masters Unequipped category, Andres totaled 597.5 kg (1,317 pounds).

To put that in perspective, second-place winner SuJan Gil totaled only 387.5 kg (854 pounds).

So Andres out-lifted the strongest female competitor by a whopping 463 pounds.

But there's no actual advantage, right?

In case there's confusion: America's Hat uses the metric system. So these weights are in kilograms.

"I got every masters record and two unofficial world masters records," Andres wrote in an Instagram post after the competition.

"I don't care about records. I care about being there with my friends."

In another social media post earlier this year, Andres questioned why female powerlifters are so "bad" at bench press.

"Well idk Anne, but maybe it's because you have 20 times more testosterone than them. Just a thought,"clapped back Riley Gaines, host of OutKick's Gaines For Girls podcast.

Tennis great Martina Navratilova also chimed in about Andres' latest victory — pointing out that males dominating female sports has become all too common.

"It is happening literally everywhere," she wrote on X.

Canadian Powerlifting Rules Allow Anne Andres To Compete With Women

In February, the CPU announced a gender self-identification policy. This means men can compete in women's competitions based on gender identity alone — no hormones or medical transition required.

"Based on this background and available evidence, the Expert Working Group felt that trans athletes should be able to participate in the gender with which they identify, regardless of whether or not they have undergone hormone therapy," the document reads.

The policy was based on guidance provided by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports.

Back in the spring, a male powerlifting coach named Avi Silverberg decided to protest the new policy. So he "self-identified" as a female for one day, entered a women's meet and shattered Andres' bench press record.

Unfortunately, though, Silverberg's demonstration didn't change any policies. And Andres called out the powerlifting coach for his "malicious intent."

"Everyone was happy that I was there. And it really struck me that maybe my participation isn't necessarily fair — I mean, there's science, whatever — but people welcome me because I'm actually nice to people," Andres said.

Andres, by the way, is 40 years old. And he said he never touched a barbell in his life until seven years ago.

Pretty remarkable to be setting world records with such little experience. Almost as if it's... genetic.