Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the performance difference for current World (Junior and Senior) and Paralympic (Senior) record holders according to origin of impairment (acquired or congenital), level of competition, and sex and to describe the performance progression of Paralympic Powerlifting records holders.
Design: This retrospective cohort study involving 60 current world (20 Junior and 20 Senior) and Paralympic (20 Senior) Para powerlifting record holders with 15 males congenital impairment and 14 acquired impairment, while 18 females were acquired impairment and 9 congenital impairments.
Results: The origin of impairment did not influence the absolute and relative load of male and female recordists. However, for males, acquired athletes were older and heavier when compared with congenital athletes, but without differences for females. The absolute load of Junior World recordists was lower in relation to Senior World and Paralympic recordists independently of the sex. Congenital athletes more often reached the world record in the Junior category, while the acquired athletes were the ones who obtained most of the records in senior categories.
Conclusions: Our results show that origin of impairment did not influence the absolute and relative load of current World (Junior and Senior) and Paralympic (Senior) recordists.
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