Meredith Alwine Becomes Fifth U.S. Woman To Win Total World Title In Weightlifting
by Chrös McDougall
Meredith Alwine (center) celebrates on the podium after winning the world title for total weight at the 2021 IWF World Championships on Dec. 13, 2021 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Meredith Alwine became the fifth American woman to win a world title for total weight in weightlifting when she took the top spot in the women’s 71 kg. division Monday at the IWF World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The 23-year-old from Virginia Beach, Virginia, also won the clean and jerk portion of the competition and was 10th in the snatch. Fellow American Olivia Reeves, 18, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was fourth overall and second in the snatch.
Unlike at the Olympic Games, when medals are awarded only for total weight, the world championships also recognize medalists for the individual lifts. When including the individual categories, Alwine is the sixth U.S. woman to have won a world title.
Alwine has been climbing the ranks in the sport since finishing sixth in total weight at her world championships debut in 2018. She came into Tashkent just weeks after winning the clean and jerk and total categories at the Pan American Championships in Ecuador.
That momentum continued into Monday’s competition, when she held off Sarah Davies of Great Britain by 1 kilo — 235 to 234 kg — in the total tally.
Not far behind them was Reeves, a freshman at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who lifted 231 kg. Three athletes achieved that total weight, but Reeves placed fourth, behind Patricia Strenius of Sweden, once tiebreakers were accounted for. Vanessa Sarno of the Philippines was fifth.
The silver medal in snatch made Reeves the youngest U.S. woman to medal at the world championships in 22 years.
The teenager, who made her senior international debut in Tashkent, is the reigning junior world champion and is coming off a win at the inaugural Junior Pan American Games in Colombia.
The world championships continue through Dec. 17, with 10 athletes representing Team USA in Uzbekistan.
Chrös McDougall
Chrös McDougall has covered the Olympic and Paralympic Movement for TeamUSA.org since 2009 on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc. He is based in Minneapolis-St. Paul.