Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

IAWA World meeting minutes

The IAWA World meeting was held this past weekend (10/5/2024) in conjunction with the World Championships in Eastbourne, England. The minutes are attached. Of note:

  • The Duck Walk is being added as an official lift
  • Disability Lifts and Old Time Strongman Lifts are being added to the IAWA record book. Neither will be combined with regular lifts in competition, as they each have their own competitions.
  • Al Myers is stepping down as President after 12 years of service; Paul Barette will serve as President for the next 4 years. Thank you Al for all your work!
  • Sanjiv Gupta is replacing Chad Ullom as Vice President for the US. Congrats, Sanjiv!
  • 2025 World Championships will be Oct 4-5 in Belfast, Northern Ireland (Stevie Shanks, promoter)
  • 2025 Gold Cup will be November 1 in Derbyshire, England (Steve Gardner, promoter)
  • 2026 World Championships will be October 3-4 in Lebanon, PA, USA (Denny Habecker, promoter)
  • 2026 Gold Cup will be November 7 in Eastbourne, England (Paul Barette, promoter)
Minutes-of-The-2024-IAWA-World-Council-MeetingDownload

Records Updated to September 29th 2024

Thanks to the combined efforts of the records team and the EB, we are up to date on records through September 29th, 2024. If you find errors, please send them to me. The next step in the process is to update the Team Lifts file. If anyone has the team lift file as it was in 2021 or later, please send it to me as soon as possible. Team lifts have been popular lately and we’ll get those updated soon. Also, I’ll update the century club at the end of each quarter going forward. Thanks!

Tony Lupo 

Rulebook available on Amazon

8.5x11" rulebook, open to the page with the hang snatch, Kelly snatch, and snatch on knees

To those who enjoy having a physical copy of their books, I am pleased to announce that the 13th (current) edition of the USAWA Rulebook is now available for purchase on Amazon. If you search “USAWA Rulebook” it will pop right up, and you can order a copy for $9.99.

The Amazon version of the rulebook is print-on-demand, meaning that USAWA did not have to front money for a print run, nor will anybody have to store copies of the book or take the time to ship orders. The purchase price is cheaper than we have been able to offer previous printed rulebooks, and as a bonus the USAWA bank account nets $2.78 per copy. The photos included here are of the proof copy; the final copy will not include the “not for resale” banner that you can see across the cover.

The Rulebook is still available in PDF format on our Rulebook page for free, and if you prefer to print your own copy, you are still welcome to do so. I am working on formatting an ebook version that can be purchased on Kindle or loaded onto the e-reader of your choice.

So tell your friends, and order a copy for yourself if you would like. I’m told that reviews on the Amazon website are helpful in keeping books available and easy to find, so consider giving it an honest review (it deserves five stars, right?) if you’re so inclined.

Records updated through 8/16/2024

Dear USAWA members:

       Our records team is moving on getting caught up. As of this update, we are halfway through August 2024. This includes up to the Two-Fisted Challenge Meet of 10 – 11 August 2024. We have three more to do from August including the IAWAs. We have two in September not including the 3rd Quarterlies. We hope to be current by this time next week.

Current records are here.

Tony Lupo
Records Director

National Championship Records

by Sanjiv Gupta

Al Myers penned a piece on National Records published June 21,2012.  He laid out a case for recognizing special National Records that met a few criteria:

  • Set on the stage of the National Championships – Harder than setting a record at home.
  • Is an ALL age record for the weight class – Age group records are not recognized.

The piece did not consider that the National Record (NAT) set for a given weight class and lift could be exceeded in future competition.  To break the NAT, an athlete would have to exceed not only the NAT but also the current ALL age weight class record.

The 2024 National Championship was certainly amazing and much has been written on the results and overall National Champions Beth Skwarecki and Abe Smith.

I wanted to add my observations on new NAT.  (15) new NAT were set.  (9) on the women’s side and (6) on the men’s side.  Your National Champions, Beth and Abe set (3) NAT each.  Lisa and Stacy both set (2) NAT.  David, Leroy, Lillian, Phoebe and Everett each set one.  As a side note, I was confused as to whether Junior Records count towards ALL records and NAT records.  The historic record list seems inconsistent, but it is also harder to get a snapshot in time of what the ALL record was during that year’s National Championship.

Clean & Press, Fulton Bar (1st time at Nationals)

  • Abe Smith (85kg) – 215 pounds
  • David DeForest (80kg) – 105 pounds
  • Beth Skwarecki (70kg) – 100 pounds
  • Lisa Gore (100kg) – 75 pounds
  • Leroy Todd (60kg) – 50 pounds
  • Lillian Todd (75kg) – 60 pounds
  • Phoebe Todd (65kg) – 50 pounds

Pullover & Press (8th time at Nationals)

  • Abe Smith (85kg) – 295 pounds

Hack Lift (4th time at Nationals)

  • Beth Skwarecki (70kg) – 295 pounds
  • Stacy Todd (90kg) – 200 pounds
  • Everett Todd (50kg) – 125 pounds

Deadlift, Fulton, Ciavattone Grip (2nd time at Nationals)

  • None

Snatch, One Arm, Left/Right (14th time at Nationals)

  • Abe Smith (85kg) – 130 pounds (Left)
  • Stacy Todd (90kg) – 50 pounds (Left)

Zercher Lift (18th time at Nationals)

  • Beth Skwarecki (70kg) – 225 pounds
  • Lisa Gore (100kg) – 90 pounds

As there were only (6) official lifts, only (6) National Records had a chance of being set.  Record Session lifts and Exhibition lifts do not count.  It also gets progressively more difficult to set a National Record as the ALL (age) weight class record tends to be set and bested more frequently.

To date (61) different lifts have been contested at the National Championships.  With left/right designation on the one arm lifts, (72) of (219) lifts in the records list have recognized National Records.

In the early days of the USAWA it was not uncommon to contest (10) different lifts to crown National Champions.  During the last decade (5) or (6) lifts seem to be the norm.

Good luck to all of the rising stars who want to set a National Record.

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