A father of two who stepped up his training to help him deal with his eldest son’s autism diagnosis has been crowned a powerlifting world champion.

James Suckling, 38, took the unequipped single squat title as an 82.5kg athlete at the British Drug Free Powerlifting Association (BDFPA) World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.

It was only the fourth competition he had entered and he triumphed without the help of a coach or sponsors.

Suckling, who is a digital accessibility project manager and product owner, lives in Bishop’s Stortford with wife Lucy and their sons Bertie, eight, and Teddy, four.

Bertie, who went to Grove Cottage, is autistic and Teddy is also currently being diagnosed with autism.

“I started training more seriously when my son Bertie was being diagnosed with autism. It gave me a way to get away from everything, something I could control and something I understood,” said Suckling, who played rugby for Hertford when he was younger and also played football.

“His autism journey was extremely difficult for me. Lucy adapted to everything and was fantastic, but I struggled.

“I found that having something I could understand and control through training gave me the escape I needed. It gave me something to focus on and an outlet for getting out my frustrations.”

Suckling began powerlifting two-and-a-half years ago and works out at Challenge Gym in Spellbrook. He trains for 45 minutes, three times a week, during his lunch break.

He creates his own sessions and monitors his nutrition using the knowledge he has picked up along the way from friends, people he has worked closely with and from his own research.

“I am mainly able to compete because of the support and help I get from my wife, Lucy,” said Suckling.

“She is able to help me with my meals, is supportive if I need to do anything outside of my lunchtime sessions and makes sure she is with our children when I compete so that I can focus on the competition itself.

“Because of Bertie and Teddy’s needs, it is important that they have someone they are familiar with when I am not around, as well as keeping their routine. Because of this, Lucy has never seen me compete.”

His trip to Belgium was entirely self-funded. He left his home in Stortford at 10am and walked through his front door at 8pm two days later as a world champion.

“I travelled there on the Eurostar and stayed in an Airbnb,” said Suckling.

“Lucy and I worked together to find the most efficient and cost-effective way to travel, and I took my own food with me and was able to get enough rest without it impacting my performance.”