In Wednesday afternoon’s premier session at the World University Championships, USA Weightlifting continued to add to their medal count as James Tatum and Travis Cooper swept the silver medals in the 85KG category.
Cooper successfully lifted 140KG (308lb) in the snatch and 180KG (396lb) in the clean & jerk for a 320KG (704lb) total. His clean & jerk equaled the amount hoisted by Adrian Pawlicki; however Cooper won the silver on the lift on criteria of lower body weight. He finished the competition fourth overall.
Tatum successfully lifted 151KG (332lb) in the snatch and 178KG (392lb) in the clean & jerk for a 329KG (724lb) total. He is the current American University record holder in the snatch with 156KG (343lb), which he accomplished this past September in New Orleans. His snatch and total were second only to South Korea’s Yeonhak Jang, who was the 85KG champion with a 344KG (787lb) total.
85KG
Gold — Yeonhak Jang (KOR) 344KG
Silver – James Tatum (USA) 329KG
Bronze – Adrian Pawlicki (POL) 327KG
Earlier in the day, Mattie Rodgers won three gold medals and set three new American University records in the 69KG category. verall, Rogers finished 20KG ahead of second place finisher and two-time Olympian Marie-Eve Beauchemin-Nadeau of Canada.
Rodgers became the 2nd American to win overall (total) gold for Team USA so far; Kerri Keegan won gold in the women’s 48KG class on Day 1.
69KG (Women)
Gold — Mattie Rodgers (USA) 235KG
Silver – Marie-Eve Beauchemin-Nadeau (CAN) 215KG
Bronze – Yun-Szu Yang (TPE) 207KG
Thursday marks the last day of competition in Mexico, however fans can still expect to see a lot of big lifts to come. Team USA’s Marissa Klingseis is a favorite to win the 75+KG category, and she has the highest entry total of all the women competing. However, not far off is Mexico’s Tania Mascorro, and there is no doubt the fans in Merida would like to see one more championship for the home country. Both women have competed multiple times on the International Stage for their respective countries, and it’s shaping up to be a great competition.
Team Canada is expected to bring home medals in the 75KG category as two World Team members, Kristel Ngarlem and Prabdeep Sanghera step on the platform. They have two of the top three entry totals in the weight class.
Featured image: @usa_weightlifting on Instagram
