Military, Police & Fire Nationals Hosted by Robert Keller, this event is scheduled for March 20 & 21 in Orlando, FL. [Website]

Juniors Raw & Equipped Full Meet will now be combined with Collegiate Nationals for 2021. Hosted by Travis Werner, this event is scheduled for April 8-11 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The website and entry forms will be updated shortly to reflect the addition of Juniors.

Teens Raw & Equipped Full Meet will now be combined with High School Nationals for 2021. Hosted by Dan and Jennifer Gaudreau, this event is scheduled for May 27-30 in Aurora, Colorado. The website and entry forms will be updated in the near future to reflect the addition of the Teens.

Open, Masters, Raw & Equipped Full Meet, Youth and Raw & Equipped Bench Press Nationals (Teen, Junior, Open, Masters) – Hosted by USA Powerlifting this event is scheduled for June 14-19 in Daytona Beach Florida. 

The combined nationals in Florida will take place at the Ocean Center. The meet hotel is directly on the beach and across the street from the venue. Both the Ocean Center and the Hilton are within walking distance of shops, restaurants, entertainment, and so much more.

High-level event information:

• This event will be capped to stay within COVID-19 guidelines. Unlike Nationals in the past, this event will be limited to 2 platforms with some days having 2 sessions and others with 3.
• The schedule is assembled so that all Masters will lift together, all Open will lift together and all Bench will lift together, with raw & equipped held on different days. All Youth will also lift together.
• This event will be the final qualifying Nationals for all 2021 IPF World Championships.  
• More information on schedule, entries and the event itself will be published soon.

The annual National Governing Body (NGB) meeting will take place on Sunday, June 20th from 9am-5pm.  Meeting details.

Qualifying Totals

Qualifying totals for Nationals can be achieved in any USA Powerlifting or NAPF/IPF meet that was held from January 1, 2019 up to the entry deadline of the meet.  Click here to review the qualifying totals.  (Qualifying for the new 69kg & 76kg weight classes.)

2021 National Team Selection

2021 National events* will be used for qualifying for the 2021 IPF World Championships.

• To be considered for any of the Open National Teams, you must compete in the Open division.
• Teens, Juniors, and Masters who compete in the Open division in the full 3-lift meet, will be ranked for the SubJr, Junior, and Masters teams based on their year of birth (YOB), regardless whether or not they compete in the Teens, Juniors or Masters divisions.
• Selections for the Bench National Team will be from those who compete at the bench only event. Those who compete only in the 3-lift meets will be ranked in the alternate pool for the Bench National Team. 

* Military, Police and Fire Nationals is not a qualifying event for international events.

It is our goal to place nationals so that it makes sense to qualify and field national teams for IPF Worlds. For the first time ever Raw, Equipped, Full Meet, and Bench Only competitors will be all together. We are excited for this event and will share more information as it becomes available.

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The USA Powerlifting Executive Committee has important updates on a few key topics it is excited to share with you. Our priority continues to be the health and safety of our members and we continue to consult subject matter experts across the country on our health and safety protocols to ensure your security and good health.

National Championships – 2021

The 2020 Collegiate National Championships remain scheduled for November 20-22 in Oaks, PA. The operations plan has been approved after being heavily vetted and reviewed both internally, and by the local health department. This event will be held on 2 platforms over 3 days and will be widely separated to ensure social distancing protocols. This will be our test for larger meets and how they will be run in the current environment.

Currently, the 2021 Collegiate and High School National Powerlifting Championships are scheduled. Our management teams are working hard planning these events. Our Open, Raw, Bench and Youth Nationals have not been scheduled as we are working diligently to plan and schedule around COVID restrictions and the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) calendar, which has not been finalized yet. 

It is our goal to place nationals so that it makes sense to qualify and field national teams for IPF Worlds. With that said, National meets will not take place prior to June 2021.  As soon as we have a final plan with dates, and locations for Nationals, we will release more information.

The Arnold Sports Festival

For 12 years we have been the premier powerlifting event at the Arnold Sports Festival. We will once again return to the largest multi-sport festival on earth in 2021. Currently, the 2021 Arnold Sports Festival organizers do not have a clear event date. Much uncertainty remains about the dates of the event due to COVID, but we are in close communication with the leadership team and will be at the 2021 Arnold Sports Festival.

Qualifying considerations for the Arnold powerlifting events will come from a variety of sources including; standings in 2020 The Hometown Showdown and previous QT’s from 2019 Nationals and by invitation. We will share more detailed information as soon as the events are planned and scheduled.  

National Team Qualifying

NAPFs: For those interested in competing at NAPF events, currently scheduled for August 2021, we will consider first those who competed at 2019 Nationals and then those ranked within the Hometown Showdown. (You will need to post a total by April 1, 2021 to be considered for the National Team.)

Worlds: Normally, qualifying for international events comes from competing at Nationals.  In the event we do not hold Nationals prior to the nomination deadlines for World events, the athletes who won spots for 2020 will have the right of first refusal for 2021 National Teams to compete at Worlds. 

We are confident that we will have openings on national teams. These spots will be filled from our rankings database for The Hometown Showdown. 

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Kelsey McCarthy, of Boston Massachusetts, Bonica Brown of Omaha Nebraska, and Blaine Sumner of Gillette Wyoming were crowned Open World Champions in their respective weight classes. This marked the 2nd Open World Championship win for McCarthy, the 4th for Brown, and the 2nd for Sumner. Each athlete will receive performance stipends for their victories from USA Powerlifting for a job well done.

This year’s US National Team was stacked with talent beyond those crowned World Champions. The men’s team was made up of experienced veterans and new blood alike. 

Multi-time men’s national team members Eric Kupperstein, James Vang, Knute Douglas, Quintin Meyer, Joe Cappellino, Scott Dobbins, and Blaine Sumner were joined by 1st time Open National Team Member Mario Leos.

The historically successful Women’s National Team once again took home the team championship and was anchored by a team of veterans; Bonica Brown, Natalie Hanson, Becci Holcomb, Monet Bland, Suzanne Hartwig-Gary, Taylor LaChapelle, Allegra Hudson, and Kelsey McCarthy.

Noteworthy individual performances from the US National Team members are worth mentioning, as some members made history; 

• Scott Dobbins became only the 8th person in USA Powerlifting history to squat 900+lbs in International Competition. 
• Blaine Sumner totaled a world record 2,812lbs posting the heaviest total in IPF History while setting a new bench press world record of 938lbs.
• Eric Kupperstein set a new M2 Squat World Record of 524lbs and was the elder statesman of the competition at 53 years old, exemplifying that world class lifting is still possible into your 50’s.
• Bonica Brown set a new world record total of 1,744lbs and a new squat world record of 702lbs. 
• Taylor LaChappelle competed in her 2nd Open World Championships at just 20 years old.

USA powerlifting proudly welcomes home these 16 phenomenal athletes and congratulates each of them on their performance.

It is the nature of competitive sports that the individual stories, struggles, and small victories of these individuals are not well known outside of their closest circles. Each of these athletes faced a daunting journey in the months leading up to the World Championships. Injuries, setbacks, professional commitments, and personal struggles made the path to Dubai a winding and bumpy road. But this team of 15 never quit.

The commonality of triumphing in the face of adversity and doing what needs to be done unites us all as powerlifters. These character traits and the fearlessness embodied by our Open National Team exists deep in the roots of USA Powerlifting’s culture and lives on in each one of our 22,000+ members.

For any questions or concerns, please email PR@usapowerlifting.com

Each lifter’s total was averaged from the past 3 years of Open Nationals. Then selected based on highest total from each weight class. Lifters aging into the Masters in 2020 were also included in this ranking.

The Alternate List is based on Carpino Formula.  This is a ranking based on average of where the lifter’s qualifying total would place them in the last three IPF Masters World Championships.

Members who compete on the 2020 Equipped Masters Team are not required to also compete in the 2020 Open Nationals in Las Vegas due to the timing of each of these events. The IPF has reported that Masters Worlds will move back to the Fall 2021, therefore the next qualifying event for Equipped Masters Worlds is Open Nationals 2021.

Note:  

• • Lifters must have competed at Open Nationals between 2017-2019.
  • All lifters have been adjusted for any age changes (i.e. from M2 to M3, etc).
  • Any lifter that competed at the 2019 Nationals that were 39 years old have been included as they would be 40 for the 2020 team.