2025 USA Weightlifting Annual Report

• 2025 marked the first year of the National Team Program (NTP), USA Weightlifting’s developmental pipeline for its national team. Fifty-eight unique athletes reached came through year one of the NTP, with 20 being male and 38 being female. 
• The NTP supports high performance athletes with monthly stipends, performance expense reimbursements, national team camps, international trip funding, biomechanic analysis, and meetings with sport psychology and nutrition service providers. 
• National Team athletes collectively earned 119 medals while representing the United States. Our senior women’s team won the world chvampionship title and the men finished third overall
• At international competitions, 82% of Team USA athletes competed in “A” sessions, and zero competed in “C” sessions, marking a continued growth in athlete ability.

National Team athletes collectively earned 119 medals while representing the United States, with 14 if these medals coming at World Championship events. Sixteen of the medals earned in 2025 were gold.

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) gave USA Weightlifting $578,000 in support funding (a 10% increase year-over-year) which USAW then used for team camps, paying our Sport Performance contractors, elite athlete health insurance, direct athlete support (stipends), and recruiting. The USOPC’s support continued into 2026 with USAW earning two full-time residency spots at the Colorado Springs Olympic & Paralympic Training Center (OPTC).

Half a million dollars was paid directly to athletes in 2025 following the reinstatement of the USOPC's Direct Athlete Support model for the first time in seven years. Through the NTP, athletes also benefited through Qualified Performance Expense (QPE) coverage (USAW covered approved sport expenses like massages and private PT work), support payments from the USOPC, medal and record bonuses, competition and camp cost coverages, and outfitting cost coverage. 

The USOPC's direct support was a 50% increase from $72,000 to $108,000 in Direct Athlete Support for USAW athletes. The top compensated athlete benefitted from $52,000 in direct payments, $33,600 in bonus payments, and $16,578 in additional coverage from the previously-stated benefits. 

• USA Weightlifting's membership sat at 21,623 members at year-end. We sanctioned 554 local competitions, and successfully ran 13 Weightlifting State Organization (WSO) elections in the calendar year.
• We launched our Wodapalooza test event in september 2025. The first event featured 33 athletes lifting on beautiful Huntington Beach, California, at TYR Wodapalooza SoCal. The competition ran differently than a normal weightlifting meet. Athletes competed separately at one of four competition platforms, and were given 30 minutes to complete their best snatch and their best clean & jerk. One technical official was assigned to each platform. 
• Traditional USAW national competitions saw 5,686 athletes take the stage in 2025, with participants rating their experience an average of 8.31/10.

• After capping 2024 with the news that we re-signed with Rogue Fitness through 2028, USAW opened 2025 with the announce that Virus Intl. had joined as our new apparel partner through 2028. The deal with Virus is the most valuable and significant partnership in the history of USA Weightlifting. The deal included Virus taking over the naming rights of the North American Open Series events, and benefits included substantial VIK to be used on outfitting the USA Weightlifting National Team.
• USA Weightlifting's membership sat at 21,623 members at year-end. We sanctioned 554 local competitions, and successfully ran 13 Weightlifting State Organization (WSO) elections in the calendar year.