USAWA

USAWA has a long history of in person single venue events.  These were sanctioned around the country to give everyone a chance to participate in something.  Postal meets were introduced in 2007 and have been an exciting development for athletes who want to compete against a larger field without the expense of driving, flying, hotels, etc.

Multi-venue is a hybrid where two or more locations may contest the same lifts on the same day.  There is an element of camaraderie with less expensive travel.

Championships

National Championship – Has always been live.  In 2026, a record day was offered, and remote entries were allowed for the record day only.

Postal Championship – Has always been remote.

President’s Cup – Has always been in person at a single venue.

Grip Championship – Has always been in person at a single venue.

OTSM Championship – Has always been in person at a single venue.  Pivoted to multi-venue in 2026 when the event had zero entries.

Heavy Lift Championship – Had always been in person at a single venue.  Tried a multi-venue format in 2025 and this raised attendance significantly.  Continued multi-venue format in 2026.  In 2027 the event is returning to a single venue in person event.

Team Lift Championship – Started as in person and only at a single venue.  Not contested in 2022-2024.  When resurrected in 2025, the event allowed remote entries.  It was hosted in Colorado and one club from Missouri participated.

Club Championship – Started as in person and only at a single venue.  Not contested from 2020-2024.  When resurrected in 2025, the event allowed remote entries.

We are a small organization with less than 100 members.  We are an active organization with over 30 events contested every year.  Among the current membership, less than 10% travel outside of their region for competition.  When remote entry is allowed, some athletes really enjoy competing and will support as many meets as they can.  Others do not care for remote entry and would rather wait until there is a fun competition in their area.

Our mission is to honor the old-time strongmen and original forms of weightlifting.  Do we better accomplish this by transitioning to a remote only organization?  Do we better accomplish this by transitioning back to a single venue in person organization?  Do we continue to evolve with a blend of competitions?

Personally, I like competing in person and would prefer that at least the Championships be held in person at a single venue.  However, I would hate to host a championship and only have two athletes show up. 

In polling the Executive Board, there are mixed opinions that range from remote entry for all to allowing some multi-venue when necessary.

Sanctions will begin to roll in for the 2027 Championships and the USAWA should get input from as many members as possible on how these sanctions should be evaluated and awarded.

Please share your thoughts on the Forum, Facebook or Discord.

It’s been a long and busy week, but the results are in. This is one of the more challenging meets in the USAWA pantheon of meets. Nonetheless, the meet attracted lifters from across the nation. There were five clubs and 16 lifters who competed and set records. The results were strong with more than 13 tons of iron moved in the competition alone. That’s a rate of one ton per event.

On the women’s side, newcomer Brittany Kreisler led the way, winning her second straight event and by a large margin! She was impressive as she lifted over 2,000 lb in raw weight. She really put on a clinic setting nine new records, including all four finger deadlifts, and tying for another. This included a 300 lb lift in both the Jefferson and Heels together deadlift. Finishing second was Allison Lupo who set six new age / weight records, though for many she’s competing with herself. She was close to 1500 points after age and weight are factored in, a strong total in spite of some “dings and dents”. Her best left was a 125 lb middle finger deadlift. RJ Jackson was equally impressive as she lifted just about the same amount of raw weight as Allison, in fact getting one pound more. Kim Van Wagner finished fourth in spite of not getting all the lifts in, and set records in five of the 11 events in which she competed. Jessica Hopps entered by doing the finger lifts, setting records in three of four events in spite of not being at 100% health. She is also competing with herself in many of these records. Jessica set some impressive bench press records as well and hopefully she’ll be back at 100% soon!

On the men’s side, the results were closer and Jeff Wenzel held off teammate and USAWA Hall of Famer, John Carter. Jeff won by just 57 age and weight adjusted points, as he and John finished above 3,000 points. That’s a margin of 1.8% at that level! But, unfortunately with weights, unlike elections, a recount cannot happen. Seriously, Jeff was the only lifter to pass 3,000 pounds in raw weight and in three events topped 400 lb. In second place, the ageless John Carter threw up more than 2,500 lb setting four age and weight records and tying another. John was strong across the board, though his thumbless one arm deadlifts were very impressive. Third, fourth, and fifth resulted in an interesting battle between Wade Marchand, Nils Larson, and Tony Lupo. Wade finished third putting up some impressive lifts in the Reeves Deadlift as well as the finger deadlifts to finish about 240 points ahead of his teammate. Nils then edged Tony Lupo for fourth and he was equally impressive with the Reeves and finger deadlifts. Nils set five new records as well. Tony Lupo finished 5th and his best left was a 205 lb middle finger deadlift (similar to Allison – maybe not a surprise for a pair of native New Yorkers). Sanjiv Gupta finished his day with more than 2,000 lb lifted. He was impressive with five new records including three finger lift records. Jerome Licini also finished the day with a strong total about equal to last year’s which is really a win! Riley Wenzel and Dan Jones both could not finish their days due to work. Dan finished seven lifts setting records in four of these, including an age weight and ALL record in the Reeves Deadlift. This was the best lift of the meet in the Reeves event. Riley got eight lifts in and he was impressive in the Jefferson and heels together deadlifts, finishing second in the latter event only to his dad!

Check out the record day results as well. There were some unique but impressive lifts done.

2026 Hermann Goerner Deadlift Dozen + 1 Results