Carli sets sights on world champs

A glittering haul of gold medals and a long-awaited letter have set Marlborough powerlifter Carli Dillen on a path to Mongolia.

The 40-year-old was one of 13 people from around New Zealand who last week received selection letters for the IPF World Masters Powerlifting Championships in October. Carli will travel to Mongolia’s capital city Ulaanbaatar with a dual role, competing in the 63kg class and also as a team coach.

Although hopeful of gaining final selection for the worlds, Carli admitted the confirmation letter “set my heart racing”.

She will board the plane in 12 weeks, buoyed by a series of top performances, both at home and abroad.

In late May she attended the South Island championships in Queenstown and, competing in the open division, took out first place overall, best female Lifter overall on IPF points while setting official NZ records for squat, bench, deadlift and total.

Then it was on to the Asian Pacific African Championships, staged in Hong Kong in late June. Again, Carli took first place overall, best M1 female lifter overall on IPF points and set official Oceania records for all three lifting disciplines, plus overall honours. Topping off a superb effort, she registered new Commonwealth records for squat and total.

Back in Blenheim and hard at work, both in training and a coaching capacity with her business Barbell and Beyond, what awaits in Mongolia and a shot at international glory is never far from Carli’s thoughts.

She has already scoped out the pedigree of the Ukrainian athlete who appears to be her biggest rival, suggesting an intriguing tactical battle awaits.

“We are very evenly matched. I have a much bigger squat, which is the first event, and she has a somewhat bigger deadlift, the last event, so it is going to be very strategic.

“It is not just about being the strongest, it is also about who can display the strength in the most competitive way on the day.  It will come down to who travels the best, who cuts weight the best, who makes the best attempts selection, who times their warm-ups just right and who puts in the right numbers at the right time. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

“The judging criteria will be tougher too, so it is about training to meet the higher standard.”

With the worlds being staged over 11,000km away, cost is a major concern. The NZ team will have their uniform funded but must pay their way there and back, plus shell out for all their accommodation.

Carli says the financial obligation is untimely and distracting.

“Lots of athletes in New Zealand are in the same boat. This is the time we should be focussing the most on training but then you have this financial burden hanging over you as well.

“I am brainstorming ideas as to how I can raise some funds but any help would be hugely appreciated.”

Carli, a three-time world taekwondo champion, previously claimed an open world powerlifting championship bronze medal but now, having graduated to the Masters over-40 competition, she is intent on moving further up the podium.

And the mother of a two-year-old boy backs her chances.

“I won the bronze medal in 2017, pre-baby, and this time I am going to win. I am going there to use my ‘Mum strength’ and bring back a medal,” she added with a smile, masking the steely determination that has already taken her so far during a decade in her demanding sport.