You’ve probably heard the name Ella Nicholson if you’ve been following weightlifting for the past few years. Ella burst onto the scene when she became a youth world champion at her first international meet in 2023. She has since become a two-time junior world champion and earned an impeccable 18 medals in 18 medal opportunities over her six international meets. She has never missed the podium when representing the United States. Along the way, the 18-year-old has set six American records across the youth, junior, and senior level. Nicholson played several sports growing up, with stints in swim, basketball, gymnastics, and track. Things started to shift in 2022, as her performance at the USAW National Youth Championships qualified Nicholson for the 2023 IWF Youth World Championships in Durres, Albania. She decided to shift her focus to the barbell leading up to Worlds – and it paid off. Nicholson set an 11 kg competition PR by lifting 101/121/222 in what was her first international meet and sixth overall competition. Not to mention, she won the world title. Nicholson earned 76 kg gold in the snatch and total, and silver in the clean & jerk. She was hooked. “I didn’t really know what to expect going into Youth Worlds,” Nicholson said. “Then I won and was like, ‘Oh, I’m pretty good at this and it’s fun to win, so I’ll keep doing it’.” Read Ella’s full story https://www.usaweightlifting.org/news/2025/may/13/ella-nicholson-earns-third-world-title-continues-perfect-medal-streak (fb)

National Team Camp Extended Cut Now Available 🎥 Watch USAW’s long-edit of the first National Team Program (NTP) camp that ran April 13-18 at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The full video includes interviews from Olivia Reeves, Hampton Morris, Kolbi Ferguson, Caden Cahoy, Jourdan Delacruz and Mary Theisen-Lappen; training clips from throughout the week; and a peek inside what the NTP is building toward. The camp featured men and women on the gold, silver and bronze levels of the NTP rankings. Not only did the athletes train together in a low-pressure environment, they all received critical biomechanical analysis from USAW’s partners at Marquette University, nutritional guidance, and sports psych support and guidance. Full info on the National Team Program: https://www.usaweightlifting.org/national-team-program-home Thank you to the numerous United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) team members who supported us and made this first camp possible. The next camp will be for our developmental athletes in July/August. 📺 https://youtu.be/5XkJuYe3lmk (fb)