From the Arctic ice to the Dubai desert: The Team GB powerlifter on smashing stereotypes and battling menopause.

Aneela Rose is a mother of two and a businesswoman from Burgess Hill, West Sussex, with a remarkable world class talent.

In 2026 alone, the athlete’s had an extraordinary five-month turnaround in a season that nearly ended before it had begun.

Aneela Rose spoke on her competitive comeback- going through menopause and breaking stereotypes.

"I’ve actually got stronger, healthier, more confident as I've got older, and I'm just thinking how many sports are there where you actually get stronger and better as you get older?

"It's incredible and I can only talk about it now because I've lived it and I've got the evidence.”

In April 2026, Aneela competed at the Nottingham qualifier where she failed all three squat attempts and was eliminated before reaching the bench press or deadlift. Her hopes of qualifying for the British Championships were over- she left the venue in tears.

However, just 13 days later, she tried again in Eastbourne and qualified for the British Championships- where she won silver and earned her place on Team GB for the World Championships.

Breaking the barriers

After abandoning her childhood Olympic javelin dreams, the 2012 London Games inspired Aneela to start throwing again, but when repeated shoulder injuries forced her into gym rehab, she was told that she was "freakishly strong" and swapped javelin for powerlifting.

The Sussex woman started competing in 2016, although she is now in her 50’s, the athlete is actively sharing how powerlifting transformed her life and helped fight the stigma of aging.

"I’m in my 50s, and, you know, you're told that you should start kind of winding down, that things are getting worse, that everything's going to be harder, and it's all quite negative..”

"Why should reaching fifty mean you've got to start winding down? You know I'm stronger now than when I started lifting 10 years ago...”

Aneela spoke on the challenges of perimenopause and menopause and said her journey through both would have been a lot harder if she hadn’t been in the strength training.

"Although I do still get aches and pains in my joints, I do believe that if I hadn't been in the strength training, I think the journey through perimenopause and menopause would have been a lot harder for me."

Just two years after becoming a world champion in 2018, covid hit and so did perimenopause.

Aneela went from being at the top her her game to her body starting to change.

"You know, I felt quite ugly, I felt big and fat, I had all these feelings that I'd never kind of really felt to this degree before, so I wasn't in the right place to compete last year... you've got to be in the right place physically, mentally, and emotionally.

"I loved powerlifting too much to give it up, and I wasn't ready to give it up, and I was ready to fight, but I needed to be educated.”

Aneela began to research and educate herself on menopause by talking to her trainers, nutritionists, and other women.

"You need to be confident in yourself, because I'm what we call a mental lifter, so I'm not very big, so, you know, I don't have big muscles, I've got a small, petite frame, so the strength for me, obviously I am very strong physically, but my head has to be in the right place, and I think going through menopause really, I really lost my confidence, because I was looking in the mirror, and I really wasn't liking what I was doing.”

The powerlifter hopes to share her story to other women going through similar situations and advises them to pick up the weights.

As 5ft2 female in her 50s, Aneela said people are often in disbelief that a women, like herself, can be a world class powerlifter.

"I actually would like that one day I'm viewed as just Aneela, who is lifting weights and is actually very strong and good at what she does, not, oh look at that brown skinned woman who's in her 50s trying to do something where she doesn't belong."

"I quite enjoy being the person that kind of messes with that picture of what people think strength looks like."

The athlete has shown countless times that nothing can stop her from pursuing her passion. Outside of competing, she’s decided to challenge herself to deadlift in extreme conditions around the world.

In February, the Sussex mum travelled to the high Arctic and is believed to be the only woman to deadlift in -23°C on snow in Svalbard—the world's most northern permanently inhabited place.

Her travels didn't stop there- Aneela recently ventured to the Dubai Desert, where she deadlifted on hot sand in sweltering 45-degree heat.

As she prepares to break her personal bests at the 2027 British Qualifier and looks ahead to the Worlds, Aneela hopes her journey will inspire other women to find their strength.

For more information visit her website: www.itsaneelarose.com