SASKATOON — Saskatoon weightlifter Dryden Parchewsky will join three other Canadian athletes from Quebec as they represent the country in the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay. The Games opened Aug. 9, and will close Aug. 23.
The 18-year-old Parchewsky, who regularly trains at Synergy Strength with coach Chad Benko, is scheduled to leave Aug. 15, to acclimatize before weightlifting competitions begin on Aug. 20, at Paraguay’s National Sports Complex in the capital city.
Parchewsky, who broke two provincial records while competing in the men’s 81-kilogram division at the 2023 Saskatchewan Games, is entered in the men’s 89kg weight class against other junior lifters aged 17 to 22.
He has been a familiar fixture in the country’s weightlifting scene, having won two Junior National Championships. He has represented Canada in various international youth competitions in Peru, Ecuador, Cuba and the Commonwealth Games in Fiji.
He said his father, Clay, introduced him to weightlifting during one of his CrossFit classes when he was nine years old, as he was too young to stay home alone since his mother was also working. That curiosity led him to take weightlifting seriously, making him an elite junior athlete.
“I thought he [Clay] looked so cool doing the lifts, and eventually, I just wanted to do what he was doing. I just slowly started doing their CrossFit warm-ups, and then the gym where he goes to ended up having a kids’ camp,” Parchewsky told SaskToday.
“I participated in that, and then I kept on doing it, and it's brought me here. I started weightlifting to help supplement for hockey, which I played until I was 12. It helped me succeed in hockey, but I ended up getting a lot better at weightlifting.”
He added that injuries while playing hockey made him decide to hang up his skates and concentrate on the sport that helped him bulk up while competing on ice. Travelling to compete in other countries was a bonus.
Parchewsky, who will start his architecture studies in Calgary this fall, said setting different goals in his weightlifting career has always pushed him to do his best in every competition he enters.
“I have immediate, then mid-term and long-term goals. It always helps to keep those goals in the back of your mind, and you constantly repeat them during your training. It always helps to keep you focused and dialed into what you want to accomplish,” he said.
“The Summer Olympics have always been my ultimate goal. That is every athlete’s ultimate dream. It would be amazing if I were able to qualify and compete in 2028 in LA, or 2032 [Brisbane, Australia]. That would be pretty amazing.”
He said the most remarkable thing about weightlifting is that it is such an international sport, as he also prepares for the Junior World Championships in Egypt and the Senior World Championships in China next year.
