British athlete Eddie Hall revealed on Sunday that he nearly died after completing his latest deadlift world record attempt.
The Newcastle-born competed in Saturday’s World Deadlift Championship and attempted to break the existing 465kg record with an incredible 500kg deadlift.
The 28-year-old strongman became the first man to lift half a tonne at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, but he immediately collapsed afterwards and revealed that a blood vessel burst in his head.
“That nearly killed me,” said Hall. “The pressure on my body was surreal. I passed out after that. I had nose bleeds. It’s not healthy doing something like that.”
However, Hall believes that the mark will stand for the foreseeable future. “But I’ve done it. I’m sure it will be in the history books for a very long time,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Hall and two others had already broken his existing record, but he couldn’t help but up the ante. The Brit admitted that if anyone breaks his feat, he would be tempted to try and lift even heavier.
“I don’t want to do it again, but if it comes to the point where somebody breaks it, I may just do so,” he said.
“It’s that great feeling, like the first man on the moon, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. And now I’m the first to deadlift half a ton. It is history and I’m very proud to be a part of it,” he added.