It’s been a heck of a week down in Guatemala. The 2019 Pan American Weightlifting Championships have come to a close and the United States finished with an historic 43 medals and first place in both the men’s and women’s categories.
The talk of the town is revolving around the heavyweights. Sarah Robles was named champion for the third year in a row, hitting three snatches of 118, 122, and 124 kilograms. She missed her first clean & jerk of 151 kilos, but went on to hit 152 and 155 kilograms for a total of 279 kilograms (615 pounds). You can watch her final clean & jerk below — not an American record, but a solid lift all the same.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwx3SmQh4Ax/
Robles wrote on her account,
Wow!! Team USA went absolutely ham at Pan Ams this year. I’ve literally never been on a team this good my entire athletic career! We won 1st place men’s and women’s teams and two of our athletes got the “best lifter” award. As for myself, this is my third Pan Am win. I managed to come out on top and did pretty well considering how awful this training cycle was. Time to get back to the drawing board and do even better at the Pan Am Games. Thanks to everyone for the support!
[CJ Cummings broke 15 records at Pan Ams — watch his performance here.]
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwuc2F4l0T7/
Caine Wilks took home the gold in the +109kg class with a 182 kilogram snatch, 219 kilogram clean & jerk, and 401 kilogram total. He missed his second snatch attempt and first clean & jerk attempt but was still named champion, though he told Team USA,
It wasn’t quite the lifts I wanted. I felt like I could’ve hit some bigger numbers, but I ended up hitting what I needed to today. It’s been an awesome week for Team USA, and I’m happy to be able to contribute.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwx13hIBeaO/
[See 5 mobility exercises to help improve weightlifting performance.]
Wes Kitts, meanwhile, took home gold in the -109kg weight class with a new American record total of 399 kilograms, breaking Wes Barnett’s American record of 395 kilos. His 223 kilogram clean & jerk is both an American and Pan American record.
WOWOWOWOW #TeamUSA‘s Wes Kitts crowned #19PanAms Champion in the 109kg category.
Snatch: 167kg, 172kg (miss), 176kg 🥈
Clean & Jerk: 207kg, 214kg, 223kg* 🥇
Total: 399kg† 🥇
*New American Record
†New Pan American Record & American Recordhttps://t.co/4HreaihHvl pic.twitter.com/tEAmzR2j6p— USA Weightlifting (@USWeightlifting) April 27, 2019
“It’s huge. I took multiple cracks at it on heavy nights, but I didn’t quite get 223kg,” said Kitts, who also took home gold at last year’s competition. “It feels amazing to knock that down tonight. This was an amazing night and I’m on top of the world right now.”
D’Angelo Osorio also won gold in the -102kg category with a 159kg snatch, 205kg clean & jerk, and 364kg total.
Congratulations to Team USA and all the athletes on their performances this week.
Featured image via @roblympian on Instagram.
