Mattie Rogers lands in 4th place, narrowly missing the 81kg podium at 23WWC

September 15, 2023, (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) – Team USA’s Mattie Rogers competed in the 81kg A session Friday evening in Riyad, finishing fourth in the world just behind athletes from China and Australia. Mattie made her first two snatch attempts of 110kg and 112kg before missing her third attempt of 115kg behind. 

“I really thought I had 115kg there,” Rogers told USA Weightlifting after the competition. “112kg was the goal, 115kg was the extra. This is the first time we’ve had it on the bar or anything close to it in competition.”

In the clean and jerk portion of the competition, Rogers made her first attempt at 140kg. She missed 143kg on her second and third attempts, despite making more than that weight less than a week ago, training in the world championships training hall.

“I was dizzy and following yourself when you’re dizzy is already tough,” she said. “It’s frustrating because I was in such good clean and jerk shape.”

Rogers comes away with a 252kg total, a 4kg international personal best total. 

On Thursday in Saudi Arabia, Ryan Sester represented Team USA in the 102kg B session. He missed 160kg on all three of his snatch attempts and declined his clean and jerk attempts. 

Meredith Alwine competed in the 76kg A session on Thursday, but also didn’t post a total. She snatched 103kg on her third attempt after missing it on her first and second attempts. Alwine suffered a muscle strain in her leg on her first clean and jerk attempt of 135kg and declined her remaining attempts in the clean and jerk. 

Wes Kitts (109kg B), Mary Theisen-Lappen and Sarah Robles (+87kg A) will represent Team USA on the World Championships stage on Saturday in Saudi Arabia. Caine Wilkes and Alejandro Medina (+109kg C) round out the competition on Sunday.