Picture Butte powerlifter wins a gold medal at the 2025 Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games

Sunny South News Photo by Kristine Jean. CHAMPION: Rylan Stroeve, a 20-year old Picture Butte resident and powerlifter, won a gold medal in the Junior Class – 93kg weight division at the 2025 Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games in Grande Prairie July 11-13. Stroeve has been powerlifting for two years with the Lethbridge Club and also trains at Twisted Steel in Coaldale.

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

It’s not every day you come home with a gold medal around your neck, but that’s exactly what 20-year old Picture Butte resident Rylan Stroeve did this July. 

The Lethbridge County powerlifter won a gold medal in the Junior Class – 93kg weight division, at the 2025 Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games in Grande Prairie, July 11-13. 

Stroeve won the top medal after completing a dead lift in the powerlifting discipline, which was an exceptional accomplishment since he could not lift that weight in practice prior to the games but found his strength when it counted most, during the competition. 

“It feels really awesome,” said Stroeve of winning a gold medal. “I met some very good people there and also two very good coaches from Red Deer.”  

He qualified for the 2025 Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games last year in Calgary and helped Lethbridge athletes earn a total of 59 medals at the Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games.  

Stroeve has been powerlifting for two years with the Lethbridge Club and also trains at Twisted Steel in Coaldale with owner, Jordan Sailer. This was Stroeve’s first competition in the sport and he is the first powerlifter from the Lethbridge Club to attend the games.     

The total weight Stroeve lifted was 203 pounds. 

The sport of powerlifting is often a combination of three lifts – bench press, squat and dead lift. Sailer said Stroeve, who’s been training with him for just under a year,  put the time and effort into his gold medal and it is an accomplishment he can be proud of. 

“Once he decided he wanted to do it, he was very determined and he works hard,” said Sailer. “He doesn’t second-guess, he doesn’t complain, he puts in the work and it shows because he put in that effort after just a couple of short years to win that gold.” 

Sailer said he trains with Stroeve three days a week and focuses on main his power movements, that includes working on his bench press and other accessory movements involving the chest, arms, shoulders and triceps, as well as back and leg work.    

“We’re going continue working together. I think he’s got a lot of potential,” said Sailer. “Now that we’ve seen some of the numbers that were put up by other competitors this year, we’ve got some good goals to work towards, and I think that with his determination and his dedication that he has, I think we’ll have no problem hitting those goals and maybe even beating them and going further.”     

Stroeve said training in Coaldale has helped him improve in the sport and his hard work and dedication has been an inspiration to other athletes, including his friend Rhys Beler, who wants to begin powerlifting after seeing Stroeve win a gold medal. 

“He can do the same thing as me too. I want to keep training because I want to be just like any bodybuilder,” he said, noting his hopes of making Team Canada one day. “That would be incredible.”   

Anny Chenard, who works with Stroeve as his support worker, is also the chair for Special Olympics Lethbridge. 

Special Olympic (Canadian) Nationals is being held next July in Medicine Hat in 2026, that will include the top teams from each province. That competition will be followed by the Team Canada selection and later the Special Olympics Worlds. 

“Special Olympics is all about choosing to include … you see the athletes in Lethbridge and internationally. It raises the barrier for them to show people how successful they can be,” said Chenard.