Weightlifter Heads to Sicily this Summer
By Hilary Katzenmeier

I’m originally from Kansas, born and raised, but I moved to Colorado Springs for Olympic weightlifting. I now live at the Olympic Training Center and attend PPCC, studying culinary arts in hopes that one day I’ll be a certified baker.

Each competition I go to involves two lifts: snatch and the clean and jerk. The snatch is a one part lift where the lifter keeps a wide grip on the bar and pulls from the floor to over his head. The second lift is the clean and jerk: a two part lift where the lifter keeps a narrow grip and pulls from the floor to his clavicles, then from his clavicles, he dips down, drives up and jerks the weight over his head and splits his feet at the same time.

The situation with places deals with both lifts combined for a total. The person in each weight class with the highest total is first place, the person with the second highest is second place and so on. There are seven weight classes for women and eight for men. The women’s weight classes are 48, 53, 58, 63, 69, 75 and 75+ Kilograms. The men’s weight classes are 56, 62, 69, 77, 85, 94, 105 and 105+ Kilograms. We measure everything in kilograms because it’s universal.

I recently returned from a competition called the Junior National Championships where I placed first in snatch, clean and jerk and total. My total enabled me to qualify for a meet in Sicily, Italy in July. There are different qualifying totals for different international meets. The qualifying totals also differ for the different age groups of weightlifters.

The age groups, from youngest to oldest are school age (13 & under), juniors (20 & under), seniors (35 & under), and masters (35 & up). Each qualifying total differs for each weight class as well, and they qualify for different meets in different parts of the world.

My best snatch is 78 kilograms (171.6 lbs.) and best clean and jerk is 91 kilograms (200.2 lbs.). Granted, these lifts could change in a single workout. My best back squat is 315 pounds. (And for your information, we don’t bench press.) I’m in the 58 kg weight class which in pounds is 127.6. We workout 5 days a week, for at least 11 hours a week.

If you’re ever in the area I highly recommend visiting the training center, feel free to stop by the weight room and say “Hi.” See what it’s all about. Every athlete here works very hard to achieve individual and team goals. It was fun sharing with you the great sport of weightlifting!

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