Hudey to travel to Costa Rica to compete in powerlifting meet

By Lethbridge Herald on August 7, 2025.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TOP SET MEDIA Olivia Hudey competes in the Canada Powerlifting Nationals in Moose Jaw in February 2025.

By Nathan Reiter

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

For the first time in her powerlifting career, Olivia Hudey will compete on the international stage.

The 18-year-old Lethbridge County product will travel to San Jose, Costa Rica later this month to compete in the International Powerlifting Federation World Classic and Equipped Sub-Junior and Junior Powerlifting Championships.

In an interview with the Herald, Hudey says she is looking forward to the opportunity.

“I’m super excited. I’m really excited to compete at the highest level of sport. Even though powerlifting is such an individual sport, I’m really excited to meet and spend time with the rest of the team and even meet athletes from other countries around the world who have the same passion for powerlifting.”

Growing up, Hudey was a gymnast specializing in trampoline and tumbling. She was first introduced to weightlifting at the age of 13 and used the gym as a way to train for her gymnastics career. At the recommendation of others, she took up powerlifting in January 2024 and fell in love with the sport. 

Hudey says the opportunity to compete internationally is something she never would have thought possible when she first started lifting weights.

“I think it’s super fun and I think that you never know what could happen. When I started, I had no idea that I would be representing Canada, so that’s probably one of my highest achievements in my athletics career. I think if you’re passionate about something, you have every potential to be successful in it, so I think you should give it a try because you don’t know until you try.” 

Since she started competing, Hudey has traveled to a total of four different competitions across Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Hudey says the nerves are still there when she competes, but she has learned to control them as she has gotten more experience. 

“The more you compete, the more you learn, and you learn to control the things that you can control. When you’re prepping for a meet, there’s obviously some lifestyle changes that go into it and making sure you’re getting good sleep, eating properly and training properly. Controlling what you can control is going to be something that’s going to help you be successful on the platform and just having fun. Sports are supposed to be fun and at the end of the day, that’s why I compete.”

At the Canada Powerlifting Nationals held in Moose Jaw back in February, Hudey put her name in the record books. Competing in the under-69 kilogram weight class and sub-junior age division, Hudey set a national squat record lifting 327.4 pounds, or 148.5 kilograms. Prior to nationals, Hudey’s previous personal best on squat in competition was 314.1 pounds, or 142.5 kilograms.

Hudey says it was a spur of the moment decision to even attempt to break the national record.

“That one wasn’t even fully planned going into the meet. It was about five minutes before I was going to compete that I decided to pull up the national records. I briefly discussed it with the coach who was handling me that we were a little bit close. It was still about six kilograms or 13 pounds more than I ever squatted before. We thought maybe if my first and second attempts moved well, that we would give it a go and they did. On that third attempt, we had loaded up 148.5 kilograms and it moved really well. That was kind of how that happened, but I’m really excited about it.”

Hudey graduated from Prairie Winds Secondary School in Coaldale earlier this year.