On July 15, Team USA weightlifter Kate Nye took to social media with a video of a new PR in the jerk — a truly astonishing 153-kilograms (337 pounds). An important note: Although this jerk PR is impressive, it is not a full clean & jerk, which is one of two movements competitive weightlifters perform in competition.
Nye’s jerk PR, which she hit while attending a training camp in Hawaii before departing to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic Games, matches the gold medal clean & jerk weight from the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships in the Women’s 76kg class — hit by Zhang Wangli of China — the category in which Nye will compete in Tokyo. Again, a Jerk and full clean & jerk are two different movements.
It is also a mere three kilograms shy of the current world record (156 kilograms, or 344 pounds) clean & jerk in that class, held by Wangli. And, as a final bit of trivia, Nye confirmed on Instagram that 153 kilograms is higher than any weight she has ever achieved in the front squat.
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However, Nye isn’t the only prominent American weightlifter making waves both in training and on the competition stage.
A few days prior, teammate Mattie Rogers hit a very impressive 110-kilogram push press, accompanied by a spectacular dance celebration. Seventeen-year-old Hampton Morris recently set a 155-kilogram Youth World Record in the clean & jerk at the Pan American Junior Championships. Nye’s jerk also matches that of her fellow 76-kilogram lifter Meredith Alwine who hit the same number back in April 2021.
2021 USA Weightlifting National Championships — Kate Nye
Nye is on something of a hot streak heading into Tokyo between her jerk PR and performance at the 2021 USAW National Championships, which she won with:
- Snatch — 105 kilograms
- Clean & Jerk — 135 kilograms
- Total — 240 kilograms
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Following a weight category reorganization in 2018 by the IWF, this year’s Games will be the first to host the Women’s 76-kilogram category on Aug. 1, 2021. Here’s the full roster:
Women’s 76KG Roster
- Katherine Nye — United States
- Neisi Dajomes — Ecuador
- Aremi Fuentes — Mexico
- Iryna Dekha — Ukraine
- Kim Suhyeon — Korea
- Darya Naumava — Belarus
- Patricia Strenius — Sweden
- Kristel Ngarlem — Canada
- Emily Muskett — Great Britain
- Kumushkhon Fayzullaeva — Uzbekistan
- Jeanne Gaelle Eyenga — Cameroon
- Megan Signal — New Zealand
- Mahassen Fattouh — Lebanon
- Nancy Genzel Abouke — Nauru
Check out our complete breakdown of the weightlifting rosters for all categories at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Women’s 76KG — World Records
- Snatch — 124 kilograms (Rim Jong-Sim, DPRK)
- Clean & Jerk — 156 kilograms (Zhang Wangli, CHN)
- Total — 278 kilogram s (Rim Jong-Sim, DPRK)
Women’s 76KG — Olympic Standards
Note: As this will be the first Olympic event following the bodyweight category reorganization, these standards are unclaimed.
- Snatch — 121 kilograms
- Clean & Jerk — 149 kilograms
- Total — 270 kilograms
Nye having jerked a would-be Olympic record in training, undeniably stokes the fire of anticipation about the outcome of weightlifting in Tokyo, which takes place from July 23 through August 8, 2021. We’ll have to wait and see if she, or others like Georgian phenomenon Lasha Talakhadze, go for more than just a gold medal on the biggest stage in the world.
Featured Image: William Breault/BarbellStories
