JACKSON, WY — Anyone can weightlift, no matter their size.
Just ask 13-year-old Tristan Moeller, who just won US Olympic Nationals in Anaheim, California in his age and weight divisions.
Moeller weighs 75 pounds. He’s lifting up to 90. Next year he plans to lift more — much more. He wants to compete in the over-13 bracket, and those weights are “really, really big,” said his mom Patricia.
Moeller is unphased. “I think if I train hard enough, I can do it.”
Moeller started weightlifting at Ridge CrossFit when he was 10 years old. He was immediately hooked.
“It’s really fun,” he said. He has lots of friends at the gym now, and he just really likes fitness.
Luckily when you’re a champion weightlifter you’re strong enough to carry all your medals. (Courtesy of the Moeller family)
He’s qualified to compete in nationals before, but until this year he never made the trek. And the odds were hardly in his favor for his first national competition. Two weeks before the competition, Moeller came down with a flu that put him in the hospital for a night. He got cellulitis in his arms. He couldn’t lift anything until five days before the competition, and when he could lift again, his capacity was down 20 pounds.
“We talked a lot about what failure is, and how sometimes circumstance can come derail plans,” his mom said. “He was disappointed, but we went anyway.”
Maybe a break was just what he needed, because despite it all, Moeller still came out on top.
Moeller’s younger brother, Augustus, qualified too. It’s a family affair.
Weightlifting is about to take a bit of a backseat to hockey, Moeller’s preferred winter sport, but when the time comes, he’ll be back to training every day (during hockey season he only lifts three days a week, on top of his hockey workouts). In preparation for the big leagues next year, he’ll spend the next six months just working on strength, his mom explained — front squatting and back squatting. Then, he’ll start to work on Olympic moves.
Moeller’s 75 pounds are pure muscle, but he doesn’t look particularly built. He looks 13. But neither his size nor his age has held him back before, and he’s not about to let them.
“A lot of people don’t know that kids can weightlift,” Patricia said. “Anyone can be a weightlifter… they just need to weightlift well.”
Shannon is a Wyoming-raised writer and reporter. She just completed a master's in journalism from Boston University. Jackson shaped her into an outdoorswoman, but a love for language and the human condition compels her to write. She believes there's no story too small to tell nor adventure too small to take.
