CHEK Upside: Vancouver Island teen wins ProAm bikini competition in first attempt

For Nanaimo’s Leila Sadeghi, weightlifting has long been a passion.

“It’s like some people get runner’s high, I get a weightlifting high,” says Sadeghi.

The 19-year-old has been hitting the gym since she was 12 — although it took a bit of creative thinking to get in.

“My mom had to get my sister’s ID and I had to pretend like I was my sister because I wasn’t old enough, you had to be 13,” says Sadeghi. “I just really liked it, it was just really fun.”

In December of 2021 after some encouragement from fellow gym members, Sadeghi entered the Canadian Physique Alliance’s Vancouver ProAm body-building and bikini competition.

“I did [the] bikini competition and it’s like a body-building competition, just a lot less buff,” says Sadeghi.

“I won every single category that I was in.”

Sadeghi even managed to qualify for the national tournament held at the same event.

While she didn’t bring home any hardware, it was still an eye-opening experience.

“Nationals is crazy, these girls are absolutely insane to look at,” says Sadeghi. “I was fangirling really hard being back there.”

As for her goals moving forward?

“I don’t really care too much about winning, I just want to see how far my body can go,” says Sadeghi.

Nanaimo’s Leila Sadeghi, 19, won in every category she was in at the Canadian Physique Alliance’s Vancouver ProAm body-building and bikini competition last month. (Photo submitted to CHEK News)

csorenson@cheknews.ca

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