By Gini Davis

Making her first appearance at the World Weightlifting Championships, held in Goyang City, Korea from Nov. 17-29, Sarah Bertram, who works and trains at Ironworks Gym in Creswell, placed 16th overall while establishing a new Oregon women's record for her weight class in the snatch.

After successfully making all three of her snatch attempts during the world championships, Bertram's lift of 89 kilograms (198 pounds) stood as a personal best, as well as a state record.

In the clean & jerk Bertram finished with a mark of 107 kilograms (235 pounds). That was just two kilograms off her personal best of 109 kilograms, set during the Rodger DeGarmo Memorial Invitational in Colorado Springs in August, to guarantee herself a position on the senior world team.

Bertram, 26, had earned a preliminary spot on the team after winning her 69 kilogram weight class during the joint U.S. Nationals/Pam Am Championships, held in Chicago in June.

As one of 15 athletes (seven women and eight men) tapped to represent Team USA during the world championships and the first Oregon weightlifter ever to do so, Bertram was in elite company.

Seven team members had competed on previous world championship teams, including five-time world team member Jacquelynn Berube of Colorado, three-time world team members Lance Frye of New Jersey and Matthew Bruce of Louisiana, as well as 2008 Olympian and three-time world team member Kendrick Farris of Louisiana.

The 5'6" Bertram, who lives in Eugene but has been training for almost nine years with Tom Hirtz at Ironworks Gym and also works at the gym as a personal trainer and assistant manager, was one of eight newcomers to the squad.

Having achieved her aim of competing on a world team, Bertram is already focused on her next major goal: earning a spot on the national weightlifting team that will represent the U.S. during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

"I wanted to make a world team and then an Olympic team," Bertram said in September while describing her goals.

And while competing at the world level is in itself a stellar achievement, Bertram noted that for an Olympics-oriented athlete, it's simply one link in the training and competition chain.

"When you do a sport for the Olympics, you're in for the long haul," she said. "What really counts is how you do in the Olympic-year qualifier."

The mental focus and stamina Bertram has developed since she began lifting competitively at age 16 will stand her in good stead as she pursues her ultimate goal of making the USA Olympic weightlifting team.

To make that team, Bertram knows she must remain at the top of her sport while continuing to improve over the next several years.

"I need to do well at the national and world championships every year and stay within the top rankings," she said.