We witness some incredible feats of strength almost every day, but when they are performed by a 73-year-old, they become even more impressive. In this case, Mary Duffy surprised the fitness and strength communities, by hitting a deadlift that is 2.5x her bodyweight. Despite the fact that Mary performed the deadlift on a trap bar, it was still incredibly heavy, weighing in at 250 pounds (113.4 kilograms) and an additional 50 pounds (22.7 kilograms) of chains.
To make it even more impressive, Mary Duffy’s deadlift was raw, since she only used a lifting belt and wrist wraps. It was not easy by any means, as Mary really had to grind to lock it out, but it paid off in the end. Mary captioned the Instagram post as “Finally!!!!!”, making it evident that she has been chasing 300 pounds (136 kilograms) for a while.
Mary Duffin is a professional powerlifter who competes in the 56-kilogram (123.5-pound) weight class. However, in her Instagram profile description, Mary stated that her bodyweight is 54 kilograms (119 pounds).
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Mary Duffin started competing in sanctioned powerlifting competitions eight years ago when she was 65 years old. She has since participated in 11 sanctioned competitions and has competed in multiple divisions almost every time. Mary has an almost perfect streak, having only once finished in second place. That was in the Amateur Open division of the 2016 IPA Connecticut State Powerlifting Championships.
Mary Duffy has already competed once this year, which was her greatest overall performance yet. She totaled 235 kilograms (518.1 pounds) at the 2022 USAPL Connecticut Ladies of Iron, which is now the third-heaviest total in the Masters 70-74 raw division. Mary also set a 57.5-kilogram (126.8-pound) Masters 70-74 Bench Press World Record at the same competition.
Data source: OpenPowerlifting. Data through July 11, 2026.
As Mary Duffy has already competed this year, we do not know if she will compete again soon. While looking at Mary’s competition results, it is clear that she is improving with each competition, so it will be exciting to see what she does next.
If you have any questions or need further clarification about this news, please leave a comment below, and AndrewSmith will get back to you as soon as possible.
Andrew is a professional writer and a workaholic. He studied sports for 4 years and trained soccer for almost 15 years. In addition, for the past three years Andrew has been implementing functional training, with a dream or a plan to enroll in the special forces.
