News

The IWF today marks World Weightlifting Day, celebrating the people and passion that have shaped the sport for more than a century, while looking ahead to a new era of growth and success.

This year’s celebration comes just days after a record-breaking IWF World Championships in Forde, Norway (2-11 October 2025), where nearly 500 athletes from 87 nations set 39 new world records. The Championships brought together athletes, fans and volunteers from across the world, filling the 1,700-seat arena with an electric atmosphere. The local community played a key role, with hundreds of Sunnfjord volunteers helping deliver a world-class event. His Majesty King Harald V of Norway also attended the Championships alongside members of the weightlifting community around the world. 

Fan engagement around the Championships reached unprecedented levels, showing the sport’s growing global following, especially among younger audiences. 

“The strength of weightlifting has always been its people – athletes, coaches, officials and fans united by a shared love and respect. As we celebrate World Weightlifting Day in the 120th year of our Federation, we reflect on incredible moments like those in Førde, but also look ahead. The record-breaking Championships and the unity we saw show the positive direction our sport is moving in. As we prepare for future competitions and the LA 2028 Olympic Games, we remain committed to using weightlifting to bring people together and inspire communities around the world,” said the IWF President Mohammed Jalood.

Forde offered moments that captured the very best of weightlifting. Solfrid Koanda of Norway, once an electrician, lifted her way to a world title on home soil, now holding the title of both Olympic and world champion. Germany’s Jon Mau made a courageous return to international competition after undergoing six months of chemotherapy, while Kolbi Ferguson of the USA, a former American football player, showcased weightlifting’s growing diversity and appeal. PRK topped the medal standings, and emerging nations across all continents demonstrated exciting progress.

This year’s World Weightlifting Day carries extra meaning as the IWF marks its 120th anniversary, honouring the pioneering nations that founded the Federation in 1905 in Germany. To commemorate this milestone, the IWF is releasing a commemorative digital publication celebrating the sport’s rich history and the athletes who have defined it (you can read it here)

The celebration also follows the International Olympic Committee’s confirmation of two additional bodyweight categories for weightlifting at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games – ensuring twelve medal events for 120 athletes (60 men and 60 women) competing across five days.

The 2025 World Weightlifting Day is therefore the best moment for the IWF to celebrate a rich history, some recent brilliant milestones, but fundamentally a way to look into a bright and promising future for the millions of people involved with our Sport in the five continents!

IWF Communications