The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Ryan Hudson continues to add to his medal count in Olympic lifting, winning World Masters Weightlifting Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week.

"In the 69-kg (152-pound) weight class I posted a 246-kg (542.3-pound) total, which was 18 kg (39.6 pounds) better than my performance last year and 16 kg (35.2 pounds) higher than the second-place finisher," Hudson told The Nugget.

The Sisters man, who operates Level 5 Training in Sisters, holds several state records in Oregon, and he extended those with his World Masters performance.

"I was able to beat all lifters in the session (including the lifters in the higher weight classes) in the clean & jerk with a 146-kg/321-pound clean & jerk," he said. "This was a 9-kg (19.8-pound) personal record in this weight class for me, which pushed my own state record out by that amount. This lift also was a 1 kg PR in the total, which also extended my own state record by this amount."

Hudson has had quite a year. He won nationals and set two records; won the overall men's state and individual title and broke the only state record he hadn't broken yet; won the Pan American games and broke the clean & jerk record there; and now he has become a world champion.

Hudson has almost run out of mountains to climb at this level of his sport.

"There is just one more major masters weightlifting event, and that is the American Masters Open which is November 3 in Savannah, Georgia," he said. "By winning this event I will have completed the grand slam, which is only achieved by a few Americans each year."

Jennifer Banning of Sisters earned a bronze at the same event, taking third place in the 58kg (128-pound) weight class and 45-49 age group. She totaled 107kg (235.8 pounds) in the snatch and clean & jerk.