Halifax’s Laura de Berdt Romilly doesn’t mind doing the heavy lifting. In fact, she thrives on it.

The 23-year-old, who recently graduated from Dalhousie University with a degree in kinesiology, is rapidly climbing the ranks in women’s strongman competition and powerlifting. She is ranked fifth in the world in the under-73 kilogram class for strongman and placed 10th in the open division at the world strongman championships this summer in Loveland, Colo.

Romilly represented Canada at the world junior powerlifting championships in Malta and earned bronze medals in deadlift and bench press, finishing fourth overall and setting a Canadian record in the bench for the under-76 kilogram class. 

She’s now training in Nashville for her next strongman competition and doing post-graduate work with the goal of being a full-time physiotherapist.

In her own words, Romilly talks about getting her start in the sport, her first competition and gaining valuable experience on the international stage.

Starting out

“Powerlifting  I just started this year. For the past three years, I’ve been doing strongman/world’s strongest woman training. I had been working out at a gym during COVID and noticed there was some strongman equipment there, so I just started doing it for fun. That summer, one of the coaches at the gym told me about a qualifier for a strongman competition and I thought it’d be something fun to do. I trained for it for about two months and ended up qualifying for the world championships.”

Next level

“At worlds, it was just me. I went there by myself, 20 years old, and was blown away by it all. They took official athlete pics and everything. I had only done training with the equipment we had back home so I wasn’t really used to the sport at all. I wasn’t very comfortable with a lot of the movement and didn’t have much technique at all, but I was able to finish in the middle of the pack and that was when I thought to myself that I really enjoyed doing this.

I started powerlifting at a local meet (the Mike LaRoche Memorial in Sydney) on the recommendation of a strongman friend of mine who thought it would help with my overall training. This was my last year of eligibility at the junior level for that, so it’s been really helpful.”

World championship

“Malta was my first competition on the world stage and it was a great experience. I actually finished tied for third but I was ruled fourth based on my body weight because I was a little heavier than the other girl, but overall I was really proud of my performance. The next worlds for powerlifting are for the open class in 2026 and that’s something I think I can do really well at.”

Taking it all in 

“I’ve always liked the challenge that comes from being an athlete. In university and high school, I played rugby and you really have to be in shape for that, so powerlifting and strongman were natural extensions of that for me. Juggling both of those sports is a lot about rest and recovery between events, because there’s differences in how you train for each of those, so that’s been the biggest adjustment so far.”