Mitchell O'Shea may be a slightly built, softly spoken 12-year-old, but he can now lay claim to being one of the strongest kids in the country.
The Sunshine Coast school student set three Australian records in a new age and weight division for juniors at the recent Queensland Powerlifting Championships in Brisbane.
Mitchell lifted a record 80 kilograms in the deadlift, more than twice his 37.5kg body weight, holding the weight for several seconds to claim the title.
"My final weight actually shocked me a fair bit," Mitchell said.
"I've been around strongman powerlifting since I was a toddler … but I never really knew that I was going to start properly competing in it."
He also claimed a new record for his age and weight in the bench press, lifting 30kg, as well as the squat, notching up a 52.5kg lift.
Modesty is also one of Mitchell's strengths. The 12-year-old did not think there was anything extraordinary about his feat.
"It doesn't feel outstanding, because I knew I could do these, but it was good to be able to perform them on the stage at that time," he said.
Strongman runs in the blood
Mitchell has grown up around strongman events, with his father Tim O'Shea a former competitive strongman and powerlifter.
"For a pretty mediocre athlete, I've had a pretty stellar career I reckon," Mr O'Shea said.
"I've been lucky enough. I've done four or five powerlifting nationals and I've done the powerlifting worlds [championships] in Argentina."
Mr O'Shea could not be more proud of Mitchell's achievements, considering his final deadlift was nearly 20kg heavier than what he had been lifting at training.
"He was the star of the show and I was definitely the supporting act," Mr O'Shea said.
"I think the heaviest he worked up to in training was 65 kilos.
"He had a pretty good day in the office."
Mr O'Shea said Mitchell did not have a strict training schedule. Instead he wanted him to enjoy being an active 12-year-old.
"A vast majority of what he does is normal kid stuff, like riding his bike and you know, swimming, the surf and whatever else we do, and then he plays footy," Mr O'Shea said.
"We do some gym work and he's done that for many years.
"It 100 per cent comes down to what he feels like doing.
"If he doesn't feel like training for two weeks or four weeks, he won't train for that time."
Raising the bar
Mitchell now has his sights set on even bigger lifts when he competes at a barbell powerlifting event in Brisbane in October.
"Well, I'm hoping to get like probably a 90 kilo deadlift, and like 60 kilo squat," he said.
"Most people I compete against are a fair bit larger than me.
"It'll be good to see my improvements for that."
Mr O'Shea believes it is just the beginning of a bright future for the father-son strongman duo.
"We'll compete down in Brisbane and then, I think in December, there's a national deadlift competent, and we might both do that together," he said.
"Despite it being eight years since I last posted a powerlifting total, the opportunity to share the platform with him was a great memory for both of us."
