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Olympic champions Rizki Juniansyah and Karlos Nasar helped to make the 2025 World Championships in Forde, Norway, an event to remember.

So did the four male silver medallists in Paris who won in Forde – Weeraphon Wichuma, Yeison Lopez, Akbar Djuraev and Varazdat Lalayan. Those six champions now hold eight world records between them. In total there were 39 world records in Forde.

Karlos Nasar (BUL)

Another highlight was seeing Jon Mau from Germany back on the platform after cancer. He underwent six months of chemotherapy during his absence. 

The female stars were Solfrid Koanda, Olivia Reeves and PRK’s team of record-breaking champions. Plus another woman, an unknown resident of Forde who, by her actions, was representing not a national team but a town with a population of little more than 10,000.

Solfrid Koanda (NOR)

Halfway through the Championships two members of a visiting team met while one, a coach, was walking away from the Fordehuset venue and the other was walking towards it. 

They stopped to chat on the pavement, in a language not native to Norway, when the woman walked past. After a few seconds she turned back and approached the two, smiling. “Welcome to Forde,” she said in English, before walking off again.

That sort of welcome was experienced by more than 1,000 people who descended with their teams on the smallest town ever to host the competition. The next host city, Ningbo in China, is a thousand times bigger than Forde at 10 million.

Rizki Juniansyah (INA)

The “welcome to Forde” woman showed that what happened off the platform was as important as what happened on it in making 2025 a special Championships.

Hundreds of people from Forde and the wider Sunnfjord area volunteered to help extend that welcome personally – as drivers, stewards and in a host of other roles. They were as helpful and, it seemed, as numerous as the volunteers at an Olympic Games.

“We may be the smallest hosts but we have the biggest heart,” said Stian Grimseth, the man who dreamed up and oversaw the project.

Stian Grimseth, the man behind this successful competition

Several sessions drew a full house of 1,700 – many of them families with young children, and almost all of them first-timers in watching weightlifting. They loved watching Solfrid Koanda win for Norway in front of the King, Harald V. They loved seeing Ine Anderson in her farewell appearance. And they cheered Ragnar Holme, a local plumber, to fifth place in the super-heavyweights.

Ri Song Gum (PRK)

PRK topped the medals table yet again. Ri Suk, Ri Song Gum and Song Kuk Hyang were their best performers. Another memorable example of local enthusiasm was seeing a group of local teenage girls persuade Ri Suk to join them for social media photos. Some of the PRK men joined in, too.

The 69kg winner Song would have been on the podium in the super-heavyweights with her 270kg total. So would Reeves, who made 278kg after moving up to 77kg. They both had a sweep of world records. Song and Reeves competing against each other is a classic waiting to happen.

Olivia Reeves (USA)

Plenty of younger athletes also put on a show, some of them winning medals and breaking world records, others shining outside the top three.

Among them were Albert Delos Santos from the Philippines, Caden Cahoy and Kolbi Ferguson from the United States, Abdelrahman Younes from Egypt, Yedige Yemberdi from Kazakhstan, Alireza Moeini from Iran, and Jokser Albornoz from Colombia. In the women’s sessions Long Tanzhen from China, Janette Ylisoini from Finland, Wakana Nagashina from Japan, and the hugely impressive teenager Ingrid Vanesa Seguro from Bahrain all stood out.

The amazing crowd in Forde

There were signs, too, of national teams moving in the right direction. Thailand, which for so long relied on its women, has built very strong men’s team. Germany is clearly improving, and may soon have a newcomer if, as expected, Yekta Jamali gains German citizenship. Others to look out for are India, Brazil and New Zealand. There are good signs in all parts of the world.

By Brian Oliver

Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia