Lecheminant lifts way to world

The moment Orson Lecheminant strides onto a stage in South Africa in August, he’ll be fulfilling a dream held by his parents.

Lecheminant, whose father Andrew, mother Lisa and two older siblings emigrated to Canada from England, will turn 16 shortly before he competes for his new country at the Powerlifting World Championship in Sun City, South Africa.

“It will be surreal,” said Lecheminant, who attends Crocus Plains. “I’ll probably be holding back tears. I was born in England and moved here when I was nine. My parents moved us to Canada because they thought we would have a better future here.

“It’s really cool to prove that and be ‘You moved us to Canada for a better future and I’m demonstrating that, I’m representing Canada on the international stage. I’m proving my parents’ hard work.”

The teenager began training seriously at the gym at age 12, following in the footsteps of his mother, who is a bodybuilder.

The gains came quickly for the youngster, and he won his age group in 2025 at the provincial championships.

He lifted enough there to book a ticket to the Canada Powerlifting National Championships in March in St. John’s, N.L., where he squatted 155kg (341.7 lb), benched 120 kg (264.5 lb) and deadlifted 177.5 kilos (391.3 pounds) to tie for third at 452.5 kg (997.5 lb). He fell to fourth on the count back.

After nationals, he applied for a spot on all the national teams heading to international events. He was put on the reserve list for the North American championship in early April but wasn’t called on.

The invitations for worlds were supposed to be sent out in early May, but when he didn’t hear anything, he mentally moved on.

Then he received an email out of the blue saying they had mistakenly neglected to send out the invitations for sub-junior men and he had a spot if he wanted it.

It didn’t take him long to accept.

“I was almost overwhelmed,” Lecheminant said. “I was feeling very grateful and very lucky. I did not expect to get the invite for worlds, it was very ‘I might get it.’ Obviously after the delay, it was out of nowhere and some random day when I was on my way to work.”

Other than telling his boss, he waited until he got home that night to tell his family.

“I worked a whole five-hour shift knowing I was going to world championships without telling anybody,” Lecheminant said with a laugh.

While it will be memorable, it won’t be cheap. After paying team fees and buying a Canadian track suit, there are flights, hotels and meals.

Lecheminant and his parents originally considered the idea that all three of them would go, which would have cost around $15,000.

They quickly abandoned that plan as too costly, and Lecheminant will instead fly to Vancouver from Winnipeg on his own and meet four of his eight teammates there. The teenage group, of which Lecheminant is the youngest, will then fly across together.

He’s also staying with a teammate in Sun City, further cutting his expenses.

Lecheminant estimates the new cost will be around $5,500. The family has set up a gofundme — Support Orson at Powerlifting Worlds in South Africa — with the goal of raising $4,000 to help him out.

So far, they’re raised $2,707.

“It’s overwhelming,” Lecheminant said. “I’m very grateful and very lucky to have a community. There are some people I don’t even know on Instagram who are giving $50, $100. My family back home in England sent me donations, people all over Canada and in the U.S., my friends. my friends’ parents. So many people are seeing it and supporting it. It’s really crazy.

“… I didn’t think I was going to get over $100. This is ‘Wow!’”

The email also solved an unexpected problem for the youngster because Lecheminant ran into a common training problem after nationals. Without his next goal in sight, his workouts seemed to suffer for the next two months.

“Something wasn’t right,” said Lecheminant, who didn’t compete at this spring’s provincial championship because it came so shortly after nationals. “I don’t know what it was. As soon as I got my invite, I had this complete mental shift from ‘Oh, I’m in the off-season’ to ‘I need to make sure this counts.’ I got the invite on Wednesday afternoon and I did a workout Thursday morning and the mental shift was apparent.

“I felt so much stronger and felt so much more dialled and more focused and into it. It was crazy. Ever since then, every workout has been following the same lead.”

Lecheminant, who broke a provincial bench press record for his age group and is the top-ranked under-15 athlete in Canadian history, will be competing in the U18 division in South Africa.

He goes into the event with his eyes wide open, understanding he’ll be lifting against more seasoned and older athletes.

“My main goal for this competition is to experience it and live it,” Lecheminant said. “I’ve been wanting to go to worlds for a while and represent Canada. I’ve been dreaming about that, and this is my first competition.

“I’m getting the invite right now at 15 years old. By the time I go I’ll have turned 16 about two weeks before I leave but I’ll still be one of the youngest there, if not the youngest. I’m going to get a taste of the future competing against some of the best in the world.

“There will be some crazy people there and world records and insane feats of strength there, and to compete alongside that, I’ll see how much weight I can hold against those trained, strong guys.”

pbergson@brandonsun.com