There’s no denying that Martha “Mattie” Rogers is one of the United States’ most popular weightlifters, and with good reason. Before the IWF instituted new bodyweight categories earlier this year she held all three senior American records in the now defunct -69kg class: a 106kg snatch, 134kg clean & jerk, and 239kg total.
So a lot of eyes were on Rogers when it was her turn to compete at this year’s World Weightlifting Championships in Turkmenistan. Now competing in the -71kg class, Rogers faced stiff competition from a lot of athletes, particularly now that China has returned to international competition.
Chinese athlete Zhang Wangli ultimately won gold in all of her lifts with a 115kg snatch, 152kg clean & jerk, and 267kg total but Rogers took home a bronze medal for her 133kg clean & jerk, which was one kilogram heavier than the lift from fellow American Meredith Alwine. She missed her third attempt of 137 kilograms.
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Rogers didn’t quite hit the standards for new United States records but it’s important to note that she is now the first American weightlifter to medal at Worlds in consecutive years since 1994.
She posted this recap on her Instagram.
I’ll post vids as I get them, but quick lil recap: 5 for 6 for the day with a 105/133/238 and a bronze medal! Weighed in at 69.8 (lol it’s a start OKAY!) 3 meals deep into the day. Felt good to walk away from this one with some definite room in the tank in snatch & an attempt at 137 in clean and jerk!
I think if I had a 4th attempt to catch it better it may have even been there today, so pumped about that too. Everything I made felt smooth and easy on stage. I’m excited to get back home and continue working on filling out this weight class and getting used to comp day weights as training weights.
I feel like this was a great step in the right direction to really building some momentum as we get into all the qualifiers for 2020. HUGE thank you to @usa_weightlifting for being so prepared and having everything we could ever need.
Alwine’s performance is also noteworthy given her age (20 years) and the fact that this is her first international competition.
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It’s worth emphasizing that Rogers, who has been public about her struggles to gain weight in her new class, weighed more than 2.5 pounds under the -71kg cutoff so we may well see heavier lifts from her in the future. For now, we want to wish her a big congratulations on her medal.
Featured image via @2poodperformance on Instagram.
