After devoting just a little over a year to weightlifting, Autumn Sands secured a national title in July and this past weekend turned around and qualified to compete in the International Weightlifting Federation’s World Youth Weightlifting Championships May 22-26 in Lima, Peru.
The Parsons High School sophomore competed at the USA Weightlifting 2023 National Youth Championships in July in Colorado and won a national title in her age and weight division.
That win qualified her for the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships in Pleasanton, California this past week, where Sands competed in the 15 and under category in the 64 kg weight class.
“I’ve been prepping for this competition for a little bit over a month. I spent August training for it,” Autumn said. “I was a little nervous because two weekends prior to that I had a CrossFit competition and training after that the two weeks leading up to the weightlifting competition and my lifts weren’t feeling right, and I kind of felt worn out and tired from the previous competition.
“So for me to step out on that stage last weekend and hit what I did was totally unexpected,” Autumn said.
She qualified in both the snatch and clean and jerk. She needed a total of 157 kg from both lifts to qualify for the world championships. Competitors have three attempts at each lift. They take the best score of each for an overall score.
Sands first snatch lift was 64 kg, her second 67 kg and on her third snatch lift she attempted 69 and missed.
“On the clean and jerk she started with 85 kg. After doing the math, knowing she needed 157, we figured she has to hit 90,” Autumn’s mother Amy Sands said. “They came out with her second attempt at 90 kg. She missed it so it came down to her last attempt at 90 and she ended up hitting it. That’s what got her the total.”
Autumn said she beat the second-place girl by 5 kilograms overall.
“We really didn’t know what to expect. Like she said we had just been to a CrossFit competition in Michigan that was a team elite competition. It was pretty intense over two days, so her legs had been pretty unpredictable, I would say, with her weightlifting after that,” her mother said. “So we didn’t really know what to expect. We saw where the numbers were at and it literally came down to the last lift that she hit was what she needed to have the total number to qualify, so it was very exciting. I don’t want to say unexpected because nothing really surprises me with Autumn, but we at least knew we had another chance if it didn’t work out in Michigan. “I told her, I don’t like that she keeps things so close because she is going to put me to an early grave,” Mrs. Sands said.
There are two world qualifying meets. Another is in North Carolina coming up the first part of December.
The realization she qualified for the world competition is still sinking in with Autumn.
“You always kind of know how you’re going to place in competitions when you are going into I, but knowing that this is real and it’s really happening, it feels so cool and I feel so proud of myself,” Autumn said. They are still getting things figured out as to if USA Weightlifting is paying her way to the world competition or if she has to pay her own way. It often depends on how long someone has been with the USA Weightlifting organization. Autumn has only been with them for a little over a year, so she is unsure.