Rae-Ann Coughenour-Miller recently set the all-time female bench press world record of 274.4kg.
Records are meant to be broken and over the weekend, a long-standing female record was surpassed. The 2021 Metal Militia (MM) National Power Lifting Invitational took place from July 17-18 at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, PA. Rae-Ann Coughenour-Miller stole the show when she set a new world record for female bench press with a 274.4kg (605lb) lift.
Becca Swanson held the previous record of 272.5kg (600.8lb). This was set back on March 8, 2008 at the 2008 American Powerlifting Federation Big Iron In-House Open. Swanson was at the top of the lift for an eye-opening 13 years and four months. Coughneour-Miller was able to set a new record with a lift that was 1.9kg more than Swanson.
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Entering the weekend, Coughenour-Miller’s personal best at a competition was 258.5kg (570lb), which took place back in April at the 2020 MM Power Wars. The preparation for this event and eventual world record was not smooth sailing.
Rae-Ann Coughenour-Miller addressed some difficulties in her recent Instagram post.
It began with her husband undergoing multiple back surgeries. This forced her to miss out on some training time and when she did train, it was by herself. She skipped out on heavy days and struggled to lift 505lb. Coughenour-Miller’ opening lift at the MM National Power Lifting Invitational was 575lb. She ended up with the heaviest bench press of all-time and made sure to acknowledge Swanson.
“So with no expectations and no idea what to open with we set off for Erie. I decided to go with my original opener of 575. I ended up with 605 lbs. The biggest bench in history. I want to acknowledge @bigbeccaswanson. She has been in my corner for a long time. She was, is and always will be the strongest woman ever,” Coughenour-Miller wrote on instagram.
As part of the Anderson Powerlifting team, Rae-Ann Coughenour-Miller is featured with some of the other top lifters in the sport. This includes Jimmy Kolb, who holds the overall world record for heaviest bench press at 508kg (1,120lb).
Rae-Ann Coughenour-Miller is one of the top powerlifters going and has done a lot of winning since 2013. She has won gold in 18 of her last 22 sanctioned powerlifting competitions. There will certainly be more added to the collection in future competitions.
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