WEIGHTLIFTER Lee Seymour Denver achieved a personal best as he won his class to become the American Athletes Union International Bench Press Champion in Nevada.

Denver, who competes in the disabled 82.5kg section, is now fifth best in Britain after less than three years in the sport and has catapulted his world ranking from 221 to around 180.

The 30-year-old from Kidderminster lifted 127.5 kg in the competition which ran alongside an able-bodied contest but Denver said the preparation was not the best.

He admitted: "It was a bit of a weird competition because there were three lifts going on at one time rather than just the one. The noise was horrendous.

"Next time we go out there it will have to be organised properly. We came to our warm-ups and there were no proper benches.

"I failed my first lift at 122.5 because I brought the weight down too quickly in their rules. Although I could have gone for 132.5, I decided to bank 127.5 to win it. I was hoping for 130.

"I didn't expect to win. The other guys were very good lifters but they missed their first two lifts."

Denver also suffered a water infection after he restricted his fluid intake to make the weight and then had to wait until Saturday morning for the weigh-in instead of Friday evening.

This year, the Great Britain international won the Warrington County Championships with a lift of 120kgs and finished third in the British National Wheelchair Championships.

And he managed an unofficial 140kgs when invited to train with the Saudi Arabian Paralympic team, helping with techniques and rules.

He is also eyeing a record by pulling a three-ton Mercedes more than 100 yards to raise cash through sponsorship for some of his competition trips.

Denver added: "When I started in 1998, I set up my training programme to aim for the 2004 Paralympics. I want to climb up the world rankings nice and steadily."