HOW TO QUALIFY FOR NATIONALS 2025!
Below you will find all the information on how to qualify for both Nationals and Drug-Tested Nationals in 2025.
*In this document when we refer to ‘Nationals’ we are referring to both Nationals and Drug-Tested Nationals.
HOW THE QUALIFYING PROCESS FOR APL NATIONALS WORKS:
Qualifying for Nationals will follow 6 steps.
Step 1: Compete at any APL sanctioned competition between June 24th 2024 – May 11th 2025. *To qualify for Drug-Tested Nationals, you must have competed at a Drug-tested event.
Step 2: Submit a Nationals Expression of Interest form.
*Expression of interest forms will go live April 1st 2025 and will close May 12th 2025. Competing at an event between April 1st and May 11th will not affect your qualification or put you at a disadvantage.
Step 3: After the submissions have closed on May 12th, we will rank all athletes based on the EOI’s received. *See the ranking system section for further details.
Step 4: Invitations will be sent out based on the rankings, with the first invitations sent May 15th. Invitations will be sent out via a round system with invitations sent until Nationals is sold out. The 2024 Nationals sent out 3 rounds of invitations.
Step 5: If you receive an invitation, you will have 72 hours to accept and process your Nationals entry fee before your invitation becomes void and it is then sent to the next highest ranked lifter.
Step 6: Train hard and we will see you at Nationals
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM:
The Nationals Expression of Interest form will be released on April 1st 2025 and will close on May 12th 2025.
Athletes looking to qualify for Nationals must complete the form by the due date of May 12th. Any submissions after this date will not be accepted.
On the EOI you will be required to fill in the details of the competition you achieved your best total during the qualifying time frame (June 24th 2024 – May 11th 2025). *Do not fill in the EOI until after you have competed. The order in which EOIs are received will have no impact on invites.
Lifters will be required to select the Division they wish to apply for at Nationals. The divisions are made up of Weight Class, Equipment, Age, Gender and Tested Status.
*You must compete at a Drug-Tested event to apply for the Drug-Tested Division
*Lifters cannot go down a weight class from which they set their qualifying total, they may however go up a weight class, but will be ranked against lifters in the weight class they select.
Eg: a 67.5kg lifter may elect to qualify and be ranked in the 75kg weight class, but may not drop down to the 60kg weight class. Please see rule 5.1.10 of the APL/WPU rule book
*Lifters may also elect to change the equipment type from that which they set their qualifying total, however they may only change equipment type in the following order and cannot go down an equipment type.
*Please see table below from section 5.1.11 of the APL/WPU rule book
HOW MANY PLACES WILL BE ALLOCATED TO EACH DIVISION:
There are several variables in determining how many places will be allocated per division:
– Age
– Gender
– Weight Classes
– Equipment type – Raw / Wraps / Single Ply / Multi Ply
– Tested status
The number of EOI’s received will determine the number of spots available per division. For example, if a particular division receives a high number of EOIs, that division will have more spots allocated compared to a division with a smaller number of EOI’s.
Eg: In 2024, the Women’s 75kg Drug-Tested Raw division was allocated more places than the Women’s 44kg Drug-Tested Wraps division because we received more EOI’s for the 75kg class.
Gender will only be a factor when deciding the divisions within that gender, but will not be a factor in the overall invites allocated to a gender, as this will be even split (or as close as possible) between men and women. In 2024 the invites were 51% women, 49% men
THE RANKING SYSTEM:
After finalising the number of spots allocated per division, we will rank lifters based on their totals within their respective weight classes from the Expression of Interest (EOI) submissions and begin issuing invitations.
This system also allows us to establish a baseline total for comparing lifters across different divisions. A base line total created by the lifters with their performances throughout the year, not a qualifying total dictated by the APL 9 months prior to the event.
For example, if a single lifter applies for the Men’s 125kg Wrapped division with a total of 560kg, but the lowest-ranked lifter in the Men’s 125kg RAW division totals 700kg, the Wrapped lifter will not automatically receive an invite just because they are the only one in that division.
Invites will first be allocated to the top lifters across the Open divisions, which often includes some of the strongest Masters and Junior lifters.
After that, we’ll extend the remaining invites to more Masters and Junior lifters, based on the McCulloch coefficient. This approach ensures a fair selection process for these divisions (see the Masters and Juniors section for more details).
For Drug-Tested Nationals 2024, this system allowed us to invite 45% of our lifters from the Masters and Junior divisions.
MASTERS AND JUNIORS INVITES:
When ranking masters and juniors we will rank each lifter using the McCulloch coefficient system to identify the overall competitiveness of the lifters.
The lifters ranking is not based on a weight division per se, but overall. The highest ranked lifters will fill the available spots allocated throughout the various weight division.
This may mean not all Masters and Juniors age groups within a weight division will be represented. However, this will ensure with the spots available, they will be filled by the strongest lifter.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q: I won Nationals last year, do I have to re-qualify ?
A: YES! Everyone will need to re-qualify. This ensures fairness across the board
Q: How do I know where I am ranked ?
A: Once the number of allocated spots per division is finalised, we will rank lifters based on their total submitted in their Expression of Interest (EOI) using the appropriate formula. This may mean not all divisions (Age, Weight Classes, Equipment type – Raw / Wraps / Single Ply / Multi Ply, Tested status) will represented.
A good indicator of where you may be ranked is via OpenPowerlifting. You can check out the results from 2024 Drug-Tested Nationals, or even filter by Auspl or Auspl-tested and see where you are ranked against everyone else.
Q: Why don’t we just use qualifying totals
A: While qualifying totals are a clear and measurable way for lifters to aim for Nationals, the goal of Nationals is to bring together the strongest lifters in the country to compete head-to-head. A ranking system ensures that we invite the top-performing athletes across divisions, making it a fairer method for selecting the best lifters, rather than relying solely on qualifying totals.