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Hu Wenxun made her mark in weightlifting history on the final day of the IWF World Junior Championships in Ismailia, Egypt.

In finishing second to her team-mate Zhang Yuxin in the women’s super-heavyweights, the 15-year-old from China had a sweep of youth world records on 125-163-288. That is the heaviest total ever by a youth female, and equal to Emily Campbell’s effort that earned her an Olympic bronze medal in Paris two years ago.

Iran also had a memorable day, finishing 1-2 in both the heaviest men’s categories for the second year in a row. That put them top of the men’s medal table despite their late arrival in Ismailia and their disrupted preparations.

Hu Wenxun (CHN)

Hu was born in October 2010, which means she will be eligible for youth competitions (age 13-17) until the end of 2027. She claimed all three youth world records on her only previous international appearance at the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain last year, where she made 115-152-267.

Today’s effort was way better than the winning numbers for three senior continental champions last month – Campbell from Britain in Europe, Lisseth Ayovi from Ecuador in the Pan Ams, and Iuniarra Sipaia from Samoa in Oceania.

Hu surpassed the previous best total by a female youth by 16kg. That was 272kg by Nadezhda Nogay from Kazakhstan in 2011. It might have been a wider margin – and victory over Zhang – if Hu had made her final attempt on 166kg, the only one she missed.

Zhang Yuxin (CHN)

Zhang, 18, also failed once in her 126-164-290. Tuana Suren from Turkiye was third, 43kg behind the winner on 109-138-247.  Barbara Mendoza completed a successful championships for Venezuela by taking snatch bronze on 110kg.

Hu said she has been in weightlifting for seven years, having started at school. “I started weightlifting because I wanted to lose weight,” she laughed. It did not quite turn out that way: Hu weighed in today at 123kg, second highest of the 12 athletes.

She said her best numbers in training were 120-165, so was very happy with her performance, especially in snatch. And what’s next?

“I hope my next competition will be the World Youth Championships in Colombia,” she said. That is in July, by which time the numbers might have improved again.

Abolfazi Zare (IRI)

Iran’s stars were Abolfazl Zare, who hit the 400kg mark to win at 110kg, and Hamidreza Mohammaditanha, who won the super-heavyweights for the second straight year with a six-from-six 180-221-401. It was a first victory for Zare after he finished second twice at the World Juniors.

Zare, 19, made five good lifts for 180-220-400, ahead of his team-mate Farhad Gholizadeh on 179-208-387. Simone Abati from Italy was third with a six-from-six 173-200-373, his best by 16kg.

Wang Guizhou from China, who bombed out in snatch, missed his first two clean and jerks but made the last one on 207kg for a bronze medal. Marcin Ziolkowski from Poland was in contention for third place but failed twice in clean and jerk and Abati claimed a rare heavyweight medal for Italy.

Zare jumped 11kg for his final attempt despite having won already. “He has done 185-226 in training,” said Sajjad Anoushirivani, president of the Iran Weightlifting Federation.

“We are very strong at 110kg. We have four athletes all trying to qualify for the Olympic Games.” They are today’s two medallists plus Amirhosein Sepah and Alireza Nasiri, all aged 19 or 20.

Hamidreza Mohammaditanha (IRI)

Nasiri won last year – his second junior world title – and set junior world records of 231kg in clean and jerk and 414kg on total at the senior World Championships in Norway. He will lift at the Asian Championships in India next weekend.

Omadillo Olimov from Uzbekistan threatened to ruin Iran’s 1-2 finish in the super-heavyweights when he made his final attempt to finish 169-219-388. But Taha Nemati responded with his fifth good lift to take silver on 172-220-392.

Selahattin Altin from Turkiye took snatch bronze on 170kg and finished fourth.

Iran’s ‘big four’ collectively weighed 528kg and lifted 1,580kg – slightly up on last year in body weight and kilos lifted.

When the Championships began last weekend, Iran’s participation was uncertain. The Egyptian sports minister, after prompting from the IWF president Mohammed Jalood, helped to clear the way for Iran’s visas and they arrived on Tuesday.

“The long journey and lack of rest affected our first two athletes but the others were fine and performed well,” said Anoushirivani.

The team’s one-month training camp had to be cancelled because of the war, and the juniors – whose head coach is the 2016 Olympic champion Sohrab Moradi – instead trained alongside the seniors for two weeks.

Iran finished the Championships with two golds, two silvers and one bronze on total.

By Brian Oliver

Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia