It was all quiet on the Western Front for Lake Wales senior weightlifter Graden Tempone at the 2026 USA Weightlifting National Championships last week.
The upperclassmen lifter was able to shut out all the background noise, focusing on his coach’s motivation and executing the lift, as his thought process before the lift was to leave everything on the platform. So, he walked onto the platform calmly and executed the lift to his best abilities, which resulted in completing the lift and hitting a new snatch and personal record of 231 pounds amongst the nation’s best competition.
He did it. Not only was he eighth in U17, but he made the Florida Elite due to an athlete withdrawing because of injury, as Tempone was next in line for that spot. But the facts are the facts…