I am starting to get excited about the 2025 National Championship in Albany, Kentucky.
With (30) registered athletes, this will be one of the larger fields for nationals. The past 10 years have had an average of 14 lifters. You must go back to 2002 at Ambridge, PA for the last field over 25 athletes and the record seems to be 37 athletes who descended on Cleveland, OH in 1994. As of this writing, 8 of 10 USAWA clubs will be represented. The 30 athletes have combined for over 250 years on the platform and set over 3000 records.
With (4) lifts, this will be the fewest lifts ever used to decide a National Champion. (10) lifts had been typical in the early years and the last 10 years have seen an average of (6) lifts. This will also be a one-day meet. The last 10 years have seen (7) one-day meets and (3) two-day meets. With all the fun activities around Kentucky, I am sure folks will find plenty of things to do with a day off on Sunday.
Interestingly, all the lifts will be from the Strongman Category. Typically, we have seen a broad mix of cleans, presses, snatches, jerks, deadlifts, squats, curls, pullovers, dumbbell lifts and even the occasional Fulton bar lift, Heavy Lift or Special equipment lift. All (4) lifts are IAWA lifts as well so there is an opportunity to set age group, National and world records. Remember to set a National record you must not only perform at Nationals, but your lift has to be an all age class record for your weight class.
Hackenschmidt Floor Press, Dinnie Lift, Saxon Deadlift and Dumbbell to Shoulder are all being contested for the first time at a National Championship. With the large field, these should all go quick and should be easy to judge. They are all taken from the floor and do not require rack height adjustments, chain length adjustments, checking a bar for balance, etc. For those all-rounders who have struggled with overhead movements, this meet is for you. With the Saxon Deadlift being very implement dependent it will be interesting to see how the warmup area is set up and how many competition platforms will be used.
Judging will not be an issue as there will be (12) Level 2 and (4) Level 1 officials in attendance.
The large field also bodes well for the annual meeting. USAWA has seen solid steady participation numbers and that has brought some contention regarding drug testing, supportive equipment, uniforms, USAWA officers, association with IAWA, new lifts, rule changes and by-law changes. Most can be accommodated with a simple majority, but by-law changes will require a 2/3 majority vote.
We have also been fortunate to see a large influx of provisional Canadian members the past two years. Aside from brief bubbles of participation from New Zealand and Spain; Canada offers the best opportunity to grow All-Round weightlifting worldwide or at least give North America a larger voice.
There will be (6) athletes competing for the women’s title. (4) masters athletes and (2) juniors. Beth Skwarecki is the favorite having won the past four years. The women’s junior championship is up for grabs as recent past champions Lilly Todd, Phoebe Todd and Daphne Lansdown will not be in attendance.
There will be (24) athletes competing for the men’s title. 2024 Champion, Abe Smith, will not be in attendance, but runner up Randy Smith will be there. Dave DeForest has been a top five finisher the past few years as well. Larry Traub was the 2012 runner up and appears to be in good form. Chad Ullom was the 2014 champion, and these lifts should suit him well.
Isaac Bankens appears to have a lock on the men’s Junior division. The Senior division will be a battle between Brian Guffey, Kyle Frappier and Chris Henderson.
Safe travels to the athletes and supporters who will be making their way to Albany, KY.
