USA weightlifter Kate Nye is having an incredible year. On Tuesday, Nye was crowned the -71kg IWF Junior World Champion at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Junior World Championships with a record breaking performance. She swept gold all across the board and broke several records.
Nye Performance Recap
- Snatch: 109kg — Gold
- Clean & Jerk: 137kg — Gold
- Total: 246kg — Gold
Nye’s snatch, while impressive, fell just shy of breaking the Junior World Record of 111kg, which is currently held by Sarah Ahmed. However, her clean & jerk was enough to break the Junior and Senior Pan American Records and American records, and her total of 246kg was good for the Junior and Senior Pan American and American records.
After her performance she told USA Weightlifting how massive it was to hit that 137kg clean & jerk.
“I’ve been wanting that for a while,” Nye told USA Weightlifting. “It’s 300 pounds so that’s pretty cool. I knew I had it in me I just had to be aggressive.”
Just last month Nye had another record breaking performance, too. Nye was crowned the -71kg Pan American Champion after going six-for-six and bringing home three gold medals. At the Pan American Championships she hit a 110kg snatch, 135kg clean & jerk, and finished with a 245kg total.
When we talked to Nye ahead of the Junior World Championships she told us how she had plans to hit more PRs in Fiji with her main goal of making the Tokyo 2020 Olympic team.
“I’m completely focused on that goal. You should expect me to try and do my best and attack some big totals at big international meets, Junior Worlds, Senior Worlds, and all of that,” Nye told BarBend last week.
Nye is proving to be a woman of her word, and she not only achieved her goals at the Junior World Championships, but came away victorious. As for what’s next for Nye? She’ll be competing for the U.S. at the Junior Pan Am Games in a few weeks.
Feature image from @usa_weightlifting Instagram page.