Mary Theisen-Lappen followed her Olympic debut with her second podium finish at the World Weightlifting Championships.
Mary Theisen-Lappen earned bronze in the World Weightlifting Championships 86+kg division, capping the U.S.' best total medal showing at worlds in six years, one year after its best Olympic medal showing in 24 years.
Theisen-Lappen, fifth in her Olympic debut in Paris, snatched 115 kilograms (253 pounds) and clean-and-jerked 154 (339 pounds) in Førde, Norway, on Saturday.
Her total of 269 kilograms was beaten only by Olympic silver medalist Park Hye-Jeong of South Korea (283) and Marifélix Sarría of Cuba (275). China's Li Wenwen, gold medalist at the last two Olympics, was not in the worlds field.
Theisen-Lappen, a 34-year-old former college throws coach in track and field, picked up competitive weightlifting her late 20s.
She earned a silver medal in her world championships debut in 2023, then became the oldest Olympic female weightlifter on American history in Paris. Women's weightlifting debuted at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Earlier this week, American Olivia Reeves won her second world title, one year after becoming the the first U.S. weightlifter to win Olympic gold since 2000.
Hampton Morris earned a bronze medal in Førde, just as he did in Paris. Morris, 21, is the first U.S. man to win a senior world weightlifting medal since 2017 (for total lifts) and the first U.S. man to win an Olympic weightlifting medal since 1984.
The U.S.' total of one gold and two bronze medals marked its best medal showing at worlds since 2019, when Americans won one gold, one silver and one bronze.
There were eight women's weight classes and eight men's weight classes at worlds, up from five each at the Paris Games and down from 10 each at previous worlds.
There will be six classes each at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The specific weights have not been announced yet.
Category: General Sports
