Delacruz Smashes Records, Sweeps Gold at 2020 Pan American Championships

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (April 20, 2021) -- National and Continental records fell Tuesday as Team USA women landed on the podium again during the second day of competition at the rescheduled 2020 Pan American Weightlifting Championships. 

Led by an American and Pan American record-breaking performance by Team USA’s Jourdan Delacruz, (49kg, Wylie, TX, Power & Grace Performance) who swept gold in her category, Team USA women scored seven medals in Tuesday’s competition. 

Delacruz went a perfect six for six in the competition successfully completing all of her attempts at the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. 

Delacruz made her Snatch attempts of 82kg and 86kg before setting the new Pan American and American record lift of 89kg on her third attempt. The lift improved her previously held American record of 87kg, set at the 2020 Roma World Cup, where she lifted in the 49kg category for the first time. 

In the Clean and Jerk portion of the competition, Delacruz made her 104kg opener before tying her previously held record of 108kg on her second attempt. With 111kg on the bar, Delacruz set new Pan American and American records in the lift and in total. 

Her 200kg total improves her previously held record by 5kg. Delacruz scored crucial qualification points ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The final Olympic qualification period runs through the end of May. 

“There’s definitely some pressure there, this was a big qualifier for the Olympics,” Delacruz told USA Weightlifting after the competition. “At the same time I felt like I was in a really good head space so I actually wasn’t all that anxious.”

USA Teammate Hayley Reichardt (49kg, Leesport, PA, Garage Strength) took the silver medal in the 49kg category, improving all of her personal best lifts in the process. Reichardt made snatch attempts of 80kg and 82kg before missing 84kg on her final attempt. She came in 4th place in the lift. 

Taking the last Clean and Jerks of the session with teammate Delacruz, Reichardt made lifts of 104kg and 107kg, enough to secure silver in the lift and total. She missed 109kg on her last attempt, but improved her best total to 189kg. 

“I was just trying to put together a really good total here because I really wanted to medal,” Reichardt said.

Continuing a record breaking day for Team USA, Taylor Wilkins (59kg, McKinney, TX, Spoon Barbell) won bronze medals in the Clean and Jerk and total in the 59kg category. Wilkins hadn’t been on a competition platform since 2019, but built a gym in her garage to train with her mind set on beating the American record standards. She made her 89kg opening attempt and 93kg second attempt before writing her name in the record books with a 95kg lift.

In the Clean and Jerk portion of the competition, Wilkins made her 114kg opening attempt and put the American record standard of 118kg on the bar for her second. She made the lift with room to aim a medal on her third lift. Wilkins hit 122kg on her last attempt to secure bronze in the lift. Combined with her 94kg snatch, her 217kg total is also a new American record.

Team USA is off to a record-breaking start as all four athletes that have competed so far have won medals. On Monday, the opening day of the competition, Cicely Kyle (45kg, Pensacola, FL, Power & Grace Performance) won three gold medals for Team USA in the 45kg category. Out of the combined 24 lift attempts taken, 21 were made, only 3 were missed.

Tomorrow’s competition will see three of Team USA’s American record holders looking to improve their totals. Defending 73kg Pan Am Champion, CJ Cummings (73kg, Beaufort, SC, Team Divergent) will take the competition platform at 12p ET. Mattie Sasser (64kg, Grandview, MO, Uplift) will compete in the women’s 64kg category at 2p ET, and Harrison Maurus (81kg, Auburn, WA, Power & Grace Performance) will take on the 81kg category competitors at 4p ET. All are contending for positions on Team USA for this summer’s Olympic Games.