Forde, Day 7: Photo Gallery
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Forde, Day 7: Olympic champion Olivia Reeves (USA) hits career high and claims three more world records
Olivia Reeves lost three world records on Tuesday night and got them all back 24 hours later at a different weight. On day seven of the IWF World Championships in Forde, Norway, Reeves produced yet another magnificent performance to win at 77kg, finishing off with a 9kg jump for a sweep of world records. The American Olympic champion finished 26kg clear of Sara Samir from Egypt, a double Olympic medallist, and 30kg ahead of third-placed Mari Leivis Sanchez from Colombia. Sanchez had been only 5kg behind when she finished second to Reeves at 71kg in Paris. Olivia Reeves (USA) Reeves made 123-155-278, a career high and a bigger total than Solfrid Koanda needed for Olympic gold at 81kg last year. Remarkably, it was not the best performance in Forde. That came a day earlier when Song Kuk Hyang won for PRK at 69kg, the weight at which Reeves had set three world records at the Pan American Championships in July. Song made a 270kg total in taking those records from Reeves, scoring 336.71 Sinclair points (the method for comparing lifts at different body weights). Reeves was only 2kg short of the 280kg she needed to outscore Song, which is clearly within her capability. When these two meet, it should be one of the great moments of women’s weightlifting. Sara Samir (EGY) Reeves has competed in four weight categories over the past two years - 69kg, 71kg, 77kg and 81kg. But she was 9kg light when she won Pan American Games gold at 81kg and more than 3kg light today, weighing in at an all-time high of 73.57kg. If she could nominate her own weight category for Los Angeles 2028, what would it be? “I’d go for 72 or 73,” Reeves said. And will she be returning to 69kg next time out (2026 Pan American Championships) to reclaim those world records from Song? “Maybe. I haven’t decided.” An American who overheard the question said, “Olivia will break world records in any category, write that down.” It was Aimee Everett, coach of Reeves’ team-mate Mattie Rogers, who won a clean and jerk bronze and finished 1kg behind Sanchez in fourth place. “I mean it. Any category.” Mari Leivis Sanchez (COL) Reeves made all three snatches to lead by 11kg at halfway. She missed her first clean and jerk on 146kg, made the next one then and looked untroubled in going up to 155kg. Samir made three from six on 112-140-152, and Sanchez five from six on 112-136-248. Rogers finished 107-140-247. At least a third of the 30 athletes across three sessions hit career-high totals. The most impressive improver, up 13kg with a five-from-six 111-134-245, was the Finnish teenager Janette Ylisoini. Her sixth-place finish should secure her more funding from the sports authorities. Janette Ylisoini (FIN) “I will soon graduate from high school, and I want to be able to train full-time,” said Ylisoini, who was noisily supported by friends and team-mates, and rated Forde as “the best competition of my life”. There have been plenty of them - 19 in four years - and the next is only three weeks away, the European Juniors in Albania. “I like to compete often because you learn every time,” she said. Yekta Jamali, the 20-year-old who represents the Weightlifting Refugee Team, was fifth in snatch and eighth overall on 108-130-238, up 1kg on her best despite dropping more than four kilos in body weight. Yekta Jamali (WRT) Jamali hopes to gain German citizenship in the next few months, after which she can join the national team as a full-time athlete. Others who upped their best total included Genna Toko Kegne from Italy on 237kg and Iryna Dombrovska from Ukraine on 236kg, both in the top 10, then Rosalie Dumas from Canada (at the age of 33), Isabella Brown from Great Britain, Lara Dancz from Germany, Gudny Stefansdottir from Iceland and Georgia Theron from New Zealand. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
Forde, Day 6: Photo Gallery
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Forde, Day 6: Sensational Song makes it five in a row for PRK women – and takes all three of Olivia Reeves’ world records
PRK’s women head home from Norway with a 100 per cent record after Song Kuk Hyang’s remarkable victory at 69kg on day six of the IWF World Championships in Forde. Song took all three of Olivia Reeves’ world records on 120-150-270 despite declining two of her attempts. The men won plenty of medals too, and the team can expect a heroes’ welcome when they return to Pyongyang. “All our citizens will be proud of us. I hope our people will be at the airport to give us a warm welcome home,” said Songnam Jang, vice-president of the PRK Weightlifting Federation and team leader in Forde. Song Kuk Hyang (PRK) Head coach Kim Chun Hui, arguably the most successful coach in the sport, said, “We expected very good results here and we got them, especially from the women.” Since PRK returned to the world stage in 2023 after a four-year Covid-related absence, they have topped the medals table at the Asian Games and a series of other world or continental competitions, setting many world records along the way. Next on their schedule is the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain in the last week of October. “We have prepared strong teams of younger athletes and now we hope for more good results in Bahrain,” said coach Kim. All five winners in Norway won world titles last year, too. The plan was for Song, 24, to compete against Reeves, the American Olympic champion, at 69kg in Forde, but Reeves moved up and lifts at 77kg on Wednesday. Ri Suk (PRK) mobbed by fans when leaving the venue (Photo by Brian Oliver) Sunday’s 63kg winner Ri Suk was mobbed by a group of teenage girls as the team left the Fordehuset venue half an hour after Song’s victory, and posed for photos with them. Other team members joined in, and Jang told the girls, “This is the world champion coach,” as he introduced Kim. Song took the snatch world record on her second lift, the clean and jerk and total on her fourth, and declined numbers three and six. She finished 29kg clear of the Colombian Julieth Rodriguez on 110-131-241. Ingrid Vanesa Segura, a former team-mate of Rodriguez who lifts for Bahrain, made five good lifts before failing on 137kg when going for a junior world record on total. Segura, 19, looked highly impressive in making 107-134-241 in third place. Julieth Rodriguez (COL) Chen Wen-Huei from Chinese Taipei, a bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympic Games, took clean and jerk bronze from the B Group on 132kg and finished fifth. The first two in this year’s 71kg World Juniors, Charlotte Simoneau from Canada and Olivia Selemaia from New Zealand, both made only two good lifts in seventh and eighth place. There was a world record for PRK in the men’s 88kg too, by Ro Kwang Ryol in clean and jerk. But Yeison Lopez from Colombia outdid Ro with two world records, snatch and total, becoming the first champion from the Americas in Forde. Lopez and Ro made nine good lifts between them while the other 10 athletes struggled. Between them, they made only 15 good lifts. Three men bombed out in snatch and three more in clean and jerk. Ro Kwang Ryol (PRK) The Chinese junior Pan Yunhua did it in both, failing six times in a row. He was desperately close with the last one at 206kg, good enough for a clean and jerk medal, but he lost it behind. The crowd felt his pain and cheered him off the platform. Two athletes from Korea, Park Hyeongo and Jo Daehee, made one snatch and one clean and jerk between them. The others who failed to make a total were Lucas Mueller from Germany, the Armenian Suren Grigoryan and his former team-mate Andranik Karapetyan, who now lifts for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yeison Lopez (COL) Not surprisingly, there was a medallist from the B Group. Arley Mendez from Chile won snatch silver and finished fourth on 172-196-368. Marin Robu from Moldova was third with two good lifts on 169-200-369. Lopez, 26, broke his own snatch world record with his second lift, then failed on 180kg. He finished 177-210-387, taking the record on total with his final attempt. Ro, 24, was too far behind to catch Lopez but his 215kg clean and jerk was a record. He made 162-215-377. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
Forde, Day 5: Photo Gallery
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Forde, Day 5: Rizki leaves the best till last for gold, and Rahmat makes podium from B Group despite injury
Rizki Juniansyah has done it again, overcoming his Indonesia team-mate Rahmat Erwin to claim the glory. This time, though, as the IWF World Championships in Forde, Norway reached the halfway point, it was much more than a two-man contest. Rizki won a remarkable 79kg competition that stretched across four sessions and featured 39 athletes. There were 12 world record attempts, senior and junior, by outstanding lifters from China, Kazakhstan, PRK, Egypt, Korea and Indonesia. Only the two from Indonesia were successful. Not one of the 10 A Group athletes made their final attempt, two declining and eight failing, which only added to the drama. Rizki won with his second clean and jerk of 204kg, taking the world record from Rahmat, who had set it in the B Group two and a half hours earlier. Rizki Juniansyah (INA) His 157-204-361 left Rizki 1kg short of the record on total. He did not go for it. “I’ll leave that for next time, hopefully,” he said. Next time is the South East Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand in December. After Rizki famously knocked Rahmat out of the Olympic Games in the final qualifier in April last year, he won gold in Paris. He outperformed Rahmat again at the SEA Games national trials in August and will lift at 79kg again in December, while Rahmat goes up to 88kg. But that is only half the story. Rahmat injured his shoulder while making a snatch at those trials and did even know if he would lift at Fordehuset. He decided to give it a go in the B Group, made four good lifts – one of them a clean and jerk world record of 203kg - and declined his final attempt in both snatch and clean and jerk. Rahmat Erwin (INA) Rahmat was 3kg short of the world record on total on 156-203-359 from his four lifts but, remarkably, that was not enough for a medal on total even though nobody beat the record. Ri Chong Song from PRK and Abdelrahman ‘Abdo’ Younes from Egypt both totalled 360kg in second and third place. Ri made 163-197-360 and Younes 162-198-360. “It could be a small tear but I don’t want surgery,” Rahmat said. “The doctors said I had to rest, so I could only train properly for a week for these Championships. I haven’t been fit enough for clean and jerks, and you can see my body fat percentage has gone up.” Ri, who has made plenty of big totals before, had two white lights for his 201kg final attempt but lost it on jury review for bending and extending. Younes, 20, clearly thought he would win, and left the platform in tears after also failing on 201kg. He also lost a lift on review. Yedige Yemberdi from Kazakhstan, who like Younes roused the crowd on a noisy night, missed a junior world record attempt on 199g, and teenager Ning Gan from China twice failed with junior record attempts. Son Hyeonho from Korea, who bombed out in snatch, missed at 205kg for a clean and jerk world record. The men's 79kg podium Nine of the top 10 were born this century, six were aged 22 or younger, and we will be seeing plenty more of them. The United States also had athletes in both A and B Groups. Ryan Grimsland, who has plenty of relatives in Norway – from where his grandfather moved to the US – put 15kg on his career-best total in the B session on 342kg. Caden Cahoy, one of the biggest improvers in the USA team, went for 204kg after Rizki and finished fifth on a career-best 155-198-353. Caden Cahoy (USA) The difference between the day’s biggest attempt and the smallest was 175kg, which could be a record. Chris Murray from Great Britain, who had shoulder surgery two months ago, went for 30kg openers in the D Group and dropped the bar as soon as it was above his knees. He declined his other four attempts, finishing without a total. This scenario was caused by a new rule for those attempting to qualify for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. In the past, athletes have had to “participate” in mandatory qualifying events for a big Games, which meant they did not have to lift if they were not fully fit or chose not to. They could weigh-in, be introduced to the audience, make themselves available for anti-doping testing, and withdraw without lifting. Large numbers of withdrawals during the Olympic qualifying period caused problems for broadcasters and for the image of weightlifting. The Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation (CWF) and the IWF decided that athletes must now “compete” rather than “participate”. They have to attempt lifts. “I was pretty embarrassed about it,” said Murray. “I didn’t want to lift, but they (CWF) haven’t announced another qualifying competition so I had to do it. It’s not a great situation if you’re not fit.” Murray won at 81kg at the Birmingham 2022 Games and is hoping to be fit to win again after an horrific run of injuries and illnesses in the past 18 months. He had a serious elbow injury, tore a hamstring, had two quad tears, suffered glandular fever and shingles, and two months ago he had surgery on a badly damaged shoulder. “So far this year I have had one week of uninterrupted training,” he said. “Every time there’s a new injury you hit another low point, but you go through it day by day, believing that it will all come right in the end. I’ve had to learn to cope with it, with the help of a very good support network at GB Weightlifting that wasn’t there a few years ago.” His recovery period for the shoulder surgery is three to six months. Murray is aiming to make a good enough total at the European Championships next April to qualify for Glasgow. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
