So, you are new to the sport of weightlifting? Welcome! Entering in your first competition can be intimidating especially when you’re competing alongside some well seasoned athletes. Rest assured that everyone was in your shoes at one point in time and have made it out the other side. This post will help you better understand what to expect in competition.
Weigh-ins
The weigh in sessions will last for one hour and will conclude one hour before your session starts. However, you do not need to show up exactly when your weigh in schedule has begun.
For example if you are lifting in session 1 at the Trick or Treat Meet, your weigh ins start at 7:00 am and you have until 8:00 am to weigh in. If you do not make your weight class you have the whole hour to attempt to make weight and you can attempt as many times as you like. If you are unsuccessful in cutting down to the weight class you registered at, you can lift in the weight class above.
If you are cutting weight, it might be more beneficial for you to weigh in at the start of weigh ins, therefore you can start re-fueling your body for the competition sooner rather than later.
There will be officials with athlete cards who will call out your name when they are ready for you to weigh in. You will also have to declare your opening attempt in the snatch and the clean and jerk to the official who is conducting your weigh in. You will sign the athlete card declaring your weight and opening attempts and hand the card back to the official.
Warming up
Athletes and coaches are allowed in the warm up area. The warm up area will be located adjacent to the platform. Most competition facilities will require athletes to share a barbell when warming up. Some warm up areas will be smaller than others. In any case, please be aware of those around you when you are lifting.
Athlete Presentation
Before the start of each session, athletes and Technical Officials are presented. Athletes will gather in the warm up area before proceeding to line up behind the platform. The announcer will call out each athlete by name and club. Once everyone is announced, a 10 minute clock will start. Once the 10 minutes is up, the session will begin.
Competition
The barbell is loaded in progression. The competitor taking the lowest weight is lifting first. Each athlete has 3 attempts in the snatch and 3 attempts in the clean and jerk. Athlete/coaches declare the next weight to the announcer and this can be modified twice before lifting. Automatic progression after any successful attempt for the same athlete must be a minimum of 1 kg. Athletes have 1 minute to make their attempt after their name has been called or after the loaders have completed loading the barbell (or 2 minutes taking consecutive attempts). After Snatch there is a 10 minutes break before Clean and Jerk starts if there are 9 lifters or less in the session.
Victory Ceremony
The Victory Ceremony takes place right after the session concludes. Medals are awarded to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place athletes for the total in each weight class.
We hope this helps you better understand how a weightlifting competition is ran. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us! We are happy to make all our athletes feel ready to take on the platform.