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Riyadh, Final Day: Lasha “must improve” after seventh straight world title

Lasha Talakhadze had to work hard to win his seventh straight world title, and he will have to work harder yet to hold off his challengers, according to his coach. Five men in the super-heavyweight A Group, the final session of the 2023 IWF World Championships in Riyadh, made a total of 450kg or more to put Talakhadze under more pressure than usual. Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) The Georgian made 220-253-473 ahead of the Armenian Varazdat Lalayan on 212-248-460 and Gor Minasyan, lifting for Bahrain, on 213-246-459. The others on 450kg or more were Ali Davoudi from Iran and Simon Martirosyan from Armenia. Davoudi was desperately close to taking clean and jerk gold. He just failed with his final attempt at 255kg and finished 203-249-452. Martirosyan, who weighed 47kg less than Talakhadze on 130kg, made 200-250-450. All five of the 450-plus group failed with their final attempt. “I like it very much to have others who are close to me, I’m happy with that,” said Talakhadze, world record holder and double Olympic champion. When he failed with his last lift at 260kg – up 3kg, at his own request, on the number suggested by his coach Giorgi Asanidze – it made no difference to the result because Talakhadze was 13kg clear. Varazdat Lalayan (ARM) “It’s not such a big weight for me – I must do better and I will make it next time,” he said. Asanidze believes he will have to if he is to extend his winning run which started at the 2015 World Championships. “The others are closing in on Lasha. The standard he showed today will not be enough any more,” said Asanidze. “He was not at his very best here, but the only thing that mattered today was for him to be champion again. He will have to regain top form next time.” Talakhadze had slightly strained his left wrist in attempting that last lift and will have time to recover because he will weigh in without lifting at the next qualifier in Qatar in December, Asanidze said. He will return to competition in February at the European Championships. Eduard Ziaziulin from Belarus, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete, made a respectable 201-230-431 despite failing with his last two attempts and goes straight into the top 10 in the rankings. There was glory and pain for 19-year-old Ali Rubaiawi, who also made the top 10 from the B Group. Gor Minasyan (BRN) After Qasim Hasan had won Iraq’s first World Championships gold medal in any Olympic sport in the 96kg snatch last Wednesday, Rubaiawi became the first Iraqi weightlifter to claim a junior world record. He did it with the last lift of the snatch session on 198kg, and started well in clean and jerk on 221kg. But a few minutes later Rubaiawi was on a stretcher, heading for hospital after suffering a painful quadriceps injury on his second attempt. Despite the injury, Rubaiawi improved his best qualifying total by 30kg on 198-221-419 and moved into the top 10 in the Paris rankings. The men's +109kg podium Another B Group lifter to make a big gain was Lee Jaesang from Korea. The 28-year-old missed his second clean and jerk but the last one at 241kg to finish 175-241-416 and move within 2kg of top-10 team-mate Jo Seongbin in the long list. The rankings are expected to be updated on the IWF website in the next few days. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia

Riyadh, Day 13: Photo Gallery

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Riyadh, Day 13: Djuraev wins Uzbekistan’s battle of Olympic champions  

Akbar Djuraev came back down in weight to see off his team-mate Ruslan Nurudinov in the 109kg head-to-head between two Olympic champions from Uzbekistan at the IWF World Championships. The gold medallists from Tokyo and Rio will do it again in a few weeks at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China – and after that things get serious. Akbar Djuraev (UZB) There is no 109kg category at Paris 2024 and the assumption has been that Djuraev, after posting two respectable totals as a super-heavyweight, would go back up and Nurudinov would drop to 102kg so that both could try to qualify at different weights. But, said Uzbekistan Federation president Shakrillo Makhmudov, Djuraev’s body cannot withstand being heavier than about 125kg without causing back problems. The most he weighed as super-heavyweight was 126kg, which put him at a disadvantage because other elite lifters at +109 weigh much more. Ruslan Nurudinov (UZB) If Djuraev cannot go up, the only way is down. So by the time of the next qualifier, the IWF Grand Prix II in Qatar in December, there could be another Djuraev-Nurudinov contest at 102kg. “We will see how it goes before we make any final decisions,” Makhmudov said. Nurudinov struggled with cutting down at the Asian Games in Korea last May. “I got to 104kg, but it was too tough,” he said. Now he is prepared for another try: “Less food, more exercise, the sweets will go first. We have doctors, nutritionists, I have good support. “I am getting old now, 32 soon, and I really want my last competition to be in Paris.” Nurudinov, who holds the clean and jerk world record of 241kg, said his two young daughters, aged three and two, were watching back home in Uzbekistan. Dadash Dadashbayli (AZE) “The elder one said, ‘Daddy, we want gold only.’ I tried…” He had to make his final attempt at 236kg to overtake Djuraev, a jump of 9kg. Nurudinov cleaned it but could not complete the lift. He finished first in clean and jerk and second on total on 180-227-407, behind 23-year-old Djuraev on 189-226-415. Dadash Dadashbayli from Azerbaijan was third on 180-223-403, and Hristo Hristov from Bulgaria was also on the podium for a snatch silver on 181kg. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio

Riyadh, Day 13: Another shock as Korean Park takes injured Li Wenwen’s world title

China had its worst result of the IWF World Championships when Li Wenwen left the warm-up room with her right arm packed in ice halfway through the women’s super-heavyweight contest. Li injured her elbow in missing her first two snatch attempts, declined the third and withdrew. That left the way clear for Park Hyejeong from South Korea to claim a world title with her first win as a senior, despite missing her third and fourth attempts. Park finished 124-165-289. Park Hyejeong (KOR) The American Mary Theisen Lappen called her second place finish “a bitter sweet moment” when her final attempt – which would have put her ahead of team-mate Sarah Robles in the Olympic rankings - was ruled a no-lift. Theisen Lappen made 117-160-277, and Lisseth Ayovi from Ecuador was third on 121-155-276. Olympic and double world champion Li, who holds all three world records at this weight as well as a huge lead in the Paris 2024 rankings, was seeking her tenth straight victory when the injury ruined her chances. If the elbow fails to respond to treatment, Park could be in line for another major victory at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in three weeks time. There was a separate all-American contest between Theisen Lappen and Robles, only one of whom can go to Paris. Robles continued a regressive run when she made 117-150-267 for fifth place. She has bettered 280kg only once since winning a second Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo and would have fallen behind Theisen Lappen, a relative newcomer, if the last lift had not been turned down by the referees. The crowd liked it, the coaches loved it but it was deemed a press-out. The Americans could not make a challenge because they had already unsuccessfully challenged a no-lift decision against Theisen Lappen’s final snatch. Mary Theisen Lappen (USA) “I hate to see World Championships medals lost on calls,” said the US coaching director Mike Gattone. “I couldn’t see anything wrong with the lift from the sides, and moments like this can’t be good for people watching. “There’s talk of amending the rules and I hope they keep looking at the pressout rule more specifically.” Theisen Lappen said the lift “didn’t feel great” and after picking up her first World Championship medals she will now try again at the IWF Grand Prix II in Qatar in December. Lisseth Ayovi (ECU) Britain’s Emily Campbell withdrew before the start because of “a back niggle” sustained after the final verification, and snatch silver medallist Son Younghee from Korea withdrew injured after failing with her first clean and jerk. China finished their campaign in Riyadh with seven world titles. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio

Riyadh, Day 12: Photo Gallery

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Riyadh, Day 12: China’s Liang claims landmark weightlifting record – and Koanda suffers shock defeat

Liang Xiaomei did something that nobody had managed in five years when she extended her lead at the top of the Olympic rankings and claimed China’s seventh victory at the IWF World Championships here. When new weight categories came into use in at the 2018 IWF World Championships, world standards were set for each of them. Because those standards had never been surpassed in snatch, clean and jerk or total there were no world records in the women’s 81kg. Liang Xiaomei (CHN) When Liang, who will be 26 on Wednesday, made her final attempt at 159kg and became the first 81kg clean and jerk world record holder. Her older Olympic champion team-mate Wang Zhouyu, who won in Tokyo at 87kg but has had to drop down since that weight was dropped for Paris, declined her final attempt after reaching 155kg, leaving Liang in the limelight. Oceania had its first medallist of the Championships when Eileen Cikamatana finished third behind Liang and Wang. The Chinese pair’s numbers are very similar and, said Liang, “that really helps us to improve, because we push each other in training”. Wang Zhouyu (CHN) The only Olympic category with three blanks for record holders now is the men’s 102kg, in which so many athletes have underperformed throughout qualifying. Liang made all six lifts to win on 122-159-281, and is within range in snatch and total, where the world standards are 127kg and 283kg. Wang, 29, made 122-155-277, her best total by some distance at this weight. Neisi Dajomes from Ecuador was third at halfway but retired, leaving Eileen Cikamatana and Mattie Rogers to make it a battle between Australia and the United States for third place. Cikamatana, who has taken two years to fully recover from a bad injury sustained at the 2021 World Championships, claimed it on 110-146-256, her best total at this weight since January 2020. “That was a surprise because I didn’t know what I was doing in terms of medals, I just knew I had to go out and make my lifts,” she said after finishing 4kg clear of Rogers, who improved her best qualifying total by 4kg. Her first qualifying total puts Cikamatana straight in at sixth place. Eileen Chikamatana (AUS) “I was like, ‘Oh, two bronze medals, that’s nice.’ Now I’ll try to do better in Qatar.” That means two Olympic qualifiers in three weeks for Cikamatana, the Oceania Championships in Solomon Islands and that IWF Grand Prix II in Doha in November and December. Solfrid Koanda, Norway’s strongest electrician, suffered a shock when she bombed out of the women’s 87kg. She moved up from the Olympic 81kg category, in which she is third in the rankings, and was one of the strongest favourites in any weight category in Riyadh after four straight wins. Koanda, who gave up her day job to become a full-time weightlifter last year, prepared well but failed three times to make a snatch of 115kg. After the first bomb-out of her international career, Koanda came out to make a personal best in clean and jerk to win by a huge margin. She made all three lifts at 140kg, 150kg and 156kg. “I have had the wind behind me for a year but this time no,” Koanda said. “These things can happen in sport, and better here than in Paris.  “I am still happy – I trained well, had a good preparation, and I will learn from this.” The winner on total was Lo Ying-yuan from Chinese Taipei on 112-133-245, which was 15kg lower than Koanda’s winning total last year. Lo Ying-yuan (TPE) The Colombian Yeinny Geles was second on 106-138-244. There were cries of despair from third-placed Jung Aram from Korea, who failed with a final attempt that would have put her on top of podium. Jung made 107-134-241. Anastasiia Manievska from Ukraine received her snatch bronze, earned with a lift of 106kg, with her left arm in a sling after suffering an injury. Monique Araujo finished 14kg and seven places behind Lo but was every bit as happy as the champion and, along with her Swedish coach Patric Bettembourg, was in tears after making 105-126-231 in the B Group. Araujo, one of the two Weightlifting Refugee Team members here, had not competed for more than six years. In her “new” career she posted a personal best total to give substance to her belief that, one day, she would return to the platform. “I always felt in my heart that I would come back to weightlifting and the IWF helped me to do it. I owe them huge thanks,” she said after the tears had subsided. Araujo was cleaning homes after moving to the United States to escape abuse and persecution in her native Brazil, and had to give up weightlifting to scrape a living. “I had a lot of depression, a lot of bad things happened, I was working all day, eating badly … but I knew God would help me to return to this sport and it has happened.” Monique Araujo (WRT) Araujo watched a documentary about the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Refugee Team and when she asked about joining, she was redirected to the IWF board member Florian Sperl, who leads the refugee team project that was approved in March. She joined the team along with partner and WRT team-mate Aline de Souza – they jointly formed their own cleaning company in the US – and finally was able to return to “this sport I love”. Sperl was there to see it. “What a wonderful moment,” he said. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio