PAINESVILLE, Ohio — A Lake Erie college student is traveling to Scotland to compete to be the World’s Strongest Under 23.
Everybody has their safe space; for Nathaniel Esker, his is the gym. Nate fell in love with weightlifting when he was 15.
“It just feels good. It feels like I can accomplish something, and I can do something that makes a lot of people excited and kind of motivated to watch,” Esker said.
Over time, one rep after another, he got stronger, and now he's competing for the title of World's Strongest Under 23. In a few weeks, Nate will head to Scotland for the competition on Nov. 4.
“It's definitely sinking in a little bit because once I think about it, and especially now that we're so close,” Esker said.
There, he will participate in five events to show his strength, which includes a log press, deadlift and an Atlas stone.
“It'll be whoever does as many reps as possible in a minute,” Esker said.
Though he's competed before, this is the biggest competition Nate has been invited to.
“It just makes me happy. I'm just proud of myself because I know growing up like I just wanted to do something that meant something to me personally,” Nate said.
But, no matter what happens, his spirits will stay lifted.
“Everything's just going to keep moving forward. And just keep trying to get to bigger and better competitions as well,” Esker said.
