Galashiels teen Daniel Maltman set the new mark for the highest deadlift by an under-17 when he lifted 303.5kg in August as a 16-year-old.

Now aged 17, he's determined to reach the very top and is hoping to achieve the pinnacle in the sport.

He says: "I'm really happy about it. I'm going to go for the under-18s record next year, I think that's about 328kg.

"I saw online that the world record was 300 kilos for my age group and the most I'd done at the time was 290. I spoke to my trainer about it and said I wanted to try to go for it.

"He got in touch with a couple of people at Scotland's Strongest Man. They got me into a venue as a guest in another competition, they set everything up there, they weighed the plates after.

"It was 303.5kg, so they've sent it all to Guinness. I haven't heard anything back, but right now it's a Scottish record and it will be an official world record once it's recognised."

Despite breaking the record, the teen reckons he could have gone even higher on the day.

"I went up to 310 afterwards, but that was too much," he said. "I definitely could have gone higher. I could have done 305, but I took too big of a jump and that cost me but I still got the record."

Daniel got into the sport thanks to his trainer, Pete Borland, and the pair are hoping to face-off against each other in competitions in the near future.

He said: "I met my trainer two years ago and he introduced me to Strongman. It wasn't something I was really thinking of, he approached me first. I noticed I had a natural talent for it and I really enjoy it.

"I train at Unit 8 gym in Tweedbank and I've got a great support network and team around me.

"He actually does strongman too. We’re going to both do Scotland's Strongest Man for under 120 kilos next year. It would be good to compete together, because I've only just got stronger than him in deadlift. He’s got me in the others, for now.

“I go to the gym four days a week. I'm training for about three or four hours.

“I want to be the world's strongest man. I aim to do that in my 20s for now I just want to compete in as many events as possible and keep adding and gained experience.”