Zinghini flew to Belarus last week to acclimatise ahead of the world championships where he’ll compete in the 74kgs class on Friday afternoon (Australian time). He’ll look to better his best 661kgs total, made up of a 232.5kg squat, 150kgs bench and 278.5kg deadlift.

The latter was, until recently, a national record and Zinghini hopes to reclaim the mantle in Minsk, though his priority is with the Australian team.

“I was fortunate enough to get the deadlift record until one of my mates broke it,” Zinghini said.

“It’d be great to get it back but it’s not really the goal at the moment, the goal is to try and score points for my team and to get as high up in the rankings as I can for Australia.

“If I get records out of it that’s just the icing on the cake but I’d like to aim for that later on in the year if I don’t get it this time around.”

The 74kgs class is Australia’s most stacked class and one of the most competitive at world level.

“It’s pretty stacked, in Australia it's the most competitive class and even at world level it’s a pretty jacked class,” Zinghini said.

“My best total is 661 kilos and the best nominated total is 730. The goal’s to get a bigger total for myself and see where that puts me.

“No one wants to go into a competition where you're not going to beat you personal best.”

The world championship mission is the culmination of more than five years dedication to the sport for Zinghini, who also trains more than 60 other athletes at The Strength Lab gym in Wollongong. 

“I played footy for 15 years so I was always in the gym tying to get stronger for that but I just kept getting injuries,” he said.

“I got into a bit of body-building but it started to get a bit boring and so I went looking for a way to make that more fun and transitioned into powerlifting.

“It’s good for someone who’s had injuries in other sports come into powerlifting where people think you’re going to get more injured but you don’t, it actually helps your joints and your whole body structure.”

The sport has since become a healthy obsession.

“At first it was just about how much I could push myself to lift as much as I can and then it becomes a bit of an obsession. It becomes addictive because it is quantifiable, you’re getting stronger by the numbers.

“A couple of years ago I thought I’d reached my ceiling and that was 61 kilos ago on my total. I hit 600 kilos and thought I was starting to peak but you’ve just got to be patient, keep putting in the hard yards and keep getting stronger.

“There is a genetic ceiling somewhere but I don’t feel that I’m there yet which is a good thing.”

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