Bahrain, Day 7: Photo Gallery
All photos by DBM/Deepbluemedia [gallery size="large"
Bahrain, Day 7: Gold for Kazakhstan and PRK – and a B Group medal for Nigerian arm-wrestler
Kazakhstan had its first winner, PRK had its ninth, and a teenaged Nigerian arm-wrestling champion shed tears of frustration then joy when she won a medal on total from the B group at the IWF World Championships in Bahrain. Nurgissa Adiletuly came out top in a desperately close finish to the men’s 96kg and declared, “The future starts now for Kazakhstan, we have a very strong team.” Adiletuly expects team-mate Artyom Antropov to follow up with victory on Friday at 102kg. Nurgissa Adiletuly (KAZ) In the women’s 76kg PRK won yet again when Song Kuk Hyang finished a long way clear of Miyareth Mendoza from Colombia. Sarah Matthew topped the B Group and finished third on total despite missing three of her attempts, one of which was an embarrassing time-out error. Song Kuk Hyang (PRK) At the end of that B session, Matthew was slumped in her chair in tears. She had a two-minute clock for her second snatch on 116kg but was timed out. She came back for the junior world record on 118kg and failed. “I lost track of time. I’m sure if I had made the 116 I would have got the record, that’s why I was crying,” she said. She was back at her hotel when she got the call to return to the competition venue halfway through the late-night A session. There were plenty more tears during the medal presentation, this time from pride and joy. Matthew has never lifted internationally before but she has won gold at the All African Games. “I won twice, left and right, in arm-wrestling,” she said. She and her 55kg team-mate Onome Didih, who was fifth from the B group, are both targeting gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Sarah Matthew (NGR) Song Kuk Hyang made four from six for 116-148-264, and Mendoza also made four good lifts for 111-137-248. Matthew, 18, made 110-135-245 and might have finished second but for the timing mishap. Bella Paredes from Ecuador was fourth on 105-136-241. Mattie Rogers from the United States suffered disappointment on her return to international lifting. Things had gone well in a recent national competition, but this time Rogers failed with all three snatches on 105kg and failed to make a total. Laura Horvath (HUN) Laura Horvath from Hungary, a huge name in CrossFit and winner of the CrossFit Games last year, lifted in the B Group. “Weightlifting is way more stressful,” she said. “You only get six opportunities here, and you get plenty more than that in CrossFit. It’ also more serious, more professional and I enjoy that. Weightlifting is exciting, a breath of fresh air for me after CrossFit.” Two 17-year-olds failed with youth world record attempts at 131kg in clean and jerk, Ayanat Zhumagali from Kazakhstan and Jeon Heesoo from Korea. Jeon holds the record on total at 232kg, but was well below that today. Georgia and Iran were on the podium for the first time here in the men’s contest. The ultra-consistent Revaz Davitadze finished second and Ali Alipour from Iran was third. Davitadze was up to 96kg for the first time, having won countless medals at lower weights, including a junior world title. He made all six for 177-210-387, his biggest career total by 13kg. Alipour made the biggest jump of the session, up 9kg in clean and jerk, to finish third on 173-214-387. His team-mate Alireza Moeini had made only one snatch but it was good enough for silver in that discipline. He was seventh in a close finish on total. Clean and jerk gold, ahead of Adiletuly and Alipour, went to Won Jongbeom from Korea, who missed his last attempt at 221kg and finished sixth. Ramiro Mora Romero (WRT) The B Group featured an impressive debutant from China and a solid performance at a new weight for a member of the Weightlifting Refugee Team (WRT). Qian Feixiang, 21, improved his best national total by 10kg in making 175-210-385 for snatch bronze and fourth place on total. Ramiro Mora Romero, a refugee living in Britain who lifted at the Paris Olympic Games for the WRT, set three national records when he made 166-203-369. He can compete at national level while he is applying for British citizenship. It has been a year to remember for Romero, originally from Cuba, who learned that he had made the team for Paris in April on the same day his daughter Nabella was born. But life is hard. “I train alone and I can’t afford to train full-time because I have a family to support,” said Romero, who coaches and works in a gym. “I don’t drive so I have to cycle to work every day, and it’s often raining. “Now I have to wait nearly a year for my next competition, the 2025 World Championships, because I can’t lift as a refugee at the European Championships. Things are difficult, it’s a hard life, but I really want to keep going through to Los Angeles 2028.” Presenters of the women's 76kg medals: Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq (Bahrain Weightlifting Federation President), Mohammed Jalood (IWF President), Sir Christopher Geidt, and Sam Coffa (IWF Technical Committee chair and IWF EB member) Alipour received his medals – bronze in clean and jerk and total – from Iran’s double Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh, who had watched from the stands. Another VIP medal presenter was Sir Christopher Geidt from Britain, who was the late Queen’s private secretary for 10 years. He is a member of the House of Lords. Sir Christopher watched weightlifting at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and enjoyed the women’s competition tonight. He confirmed that Queen Elizabeth had been interested in the sport, and that multiple weightlifting champion Precious McKenzie was one of her favourite athletes. By Brian Oliver Photos by
Bahrain, Day 6: Photo Gallery
All photos by DBM/Deepbluemedia [gallery size="large"
Bahrain, Day 6: Olivia Reeves and Karlos Nasar add world titles to Olympic gold on day of drama
Olympic champions Olivia Reeves from the United States and Karlos Nasar from Bulgaria ended Asia’s run of victories in two spectacular sessions at the IWF World Championships in Bahrain. “You can’t top the Olympics, so this one is going in at number two on my all-time list of favourite competitions,” said Reeves, whose victory at 71kg was her first (senior) world title. It came in the week when she graduated with a degree in sociology. Nasar had already broken two 89kg world records when he went for another two, in clean and jerk and total, on the final attempt of the day. He got the bar up but his momentum took Nasar too far forward. He dropped 225kg off the platform on to the stage, which held up well in the circumstances. Karlos Nasar (BUL) The platform held up well later, too, when a huge crowd of spectators came on to have their photo taken with the obliging champion. He was still posing with them and signing autographs half an hour later. In making a five-from-six 183-222-405, Nasar bettered the snatch record held by Yeison Lopez from Colombia, and his own mark on total. Those were junior world records too because, amazingly for one who has achieved so much, Nasar is still only 20 years old. Ro Kwang Ryol from PRK moved up in clean and jerk after his one successful snatch left him ninth at halfway. Ro, 23, made all three to finish second on 162-218-380. He was 4kg short of Tian Tao’s Asian clean and jerk record. Ro Kwang Ryol (PRK) Ro clearly enjoyed his time in the spotlight, as did China’s teenaged newcomer Pan Yunhua, who took clean and jerk bronze on 208kg after standing 12th in snatch. Marin Robu from Moldova was second in snatch and third on total on 173-206-379. Sarvarbek Zafarjonov from Uzbekistan took snatch bronze on 171kg and totalled 375kg in fourth place. Marin Robu (MDA) In Paris in August, Reeves became the first woman from the United States to stand on top of the Olympic weightlifting podium. Today she repeated a feat no other American lifter has achieved – topping the podium above athletes from PRK and China. Reeves did it the first time at the IWF World Cup in Thailand in April. Today, both nations fielded different athletes to try to get the better of the American. China preferred debutant Yang Qiuxia to Liao Guifang, who lifts at 81kg here, while PRK swapped its 71kg and 76kg athletes from the World Cup. Olivia Reeves (USA) Jong Chun Hui dropped down and did not start well. Jong missed her first two snatches before showing her mental as well as physical strength to make the third. At halfway in arguably the most entertaining session of the Championships, Yang led on 121kg, Reeves was second on 120kg and Jong third on 116kg. Yang started way lower than the Reeves and Jong in clean and jerk, finishing 121-140-261. Yang Qiuxia (CHN) Reeves opened on 143kg, then Jong faltered in clean and jerk too, missing her first two. Making her final attempt was a huge achievement but her two-from-six 116-146-262 was not enough, and Reeves had won with two lifts to spare. Reeves had apparently been snatching below her best in her preparations, but there was no sign of it. She even wanted to go for the world record on 122kg but her coaches said it was too risky when winning medals was the priority. She missed her second clean and jerk on 147kg and could have declined her final attempt. Reeves came out again to make it, then skipped off the platform in her usual jaunty style. Her 120-147-267 was only 1kg behind her career best at the end of a gruelling two years in which she lifted in all seven Olympic qualifiers as well as Paris and here in Bahrain. “I’m so very, very proud of Olivia,” said Mike Gattone, USA’s head of coaching. “She’s just unbelievably consistent.” Reeves, 21, will not be taking a break from her sport or her studies. Her degree ceremony is on Saturday, and she will take her Masters in public health while continuing her weightlifting career. “Next for me will be The Arnold (American Open) in March and the Pan Ams in July,” she said. Another athlete doubling up university with weightlifting is Eyglo Sturludottir, who has two and a half years to go before qualifying as a doctor. “I just did an exam before coming here and I’ll be studying on the plane home,” she said. Eyglo Sturludottir (ISL) If Jong had missed her final attempt, Eyglo would have won Iceland’s first World Championships medals. She made a career-best 107-132-239 for fourth place, registering an improvement in snatch for the eighth straight competition. “This is Iceland’s best ever result and I’m very proud of that,” she said. “My country’s population is 300-and-something thousand. For some of these girls, their home town will be bigger than that.” Colombian athletes took fourth and fifth places. Julieth Rodriguez totalled 238kg and the Paris silver medallist Mari Sanchez was on 236kg. Asian lifters had won all 10 titles in the first half of the Championships, including eight in a row for PRK. Although their athletes did not win today, PRK has been on the podium in 12 straight medal events with three more chances to come in the women’s 76kg, 81kg and 87kg. The men’s team has finished. By Brian Oliver Photos by
Bahrain, Day 5: Photo Gallery
All photos by DBM/Deepbluemedia [gallery size="large"
Bahrain, Day 5: Ten out of ten for Asia at halfway after PRK wins twice more – and takes Deng Wei’s world record
A superb final lift by Ri Chong Song and a multiple world record show by his female team-mate Ri Suk helped PRK to continue its remarkable winning run at the 2024 World Championships in Bahrain, where all 10 titles in the first half of the competition have been won by Asian athletes. PRK has won all eight medal events since Saturday, and claimed world records from three Olympic champions in the past two days. Seven senior world records have fallen to PRK’s winners in that unbeaten run. Two more Olympic champions, Olivia Reeves from the United States and Karlos Nasar from Bulgaria, will have a chance to end PRK’s dominance, and Asia’s 100 per cent record, when they both lift on Wednesday. Ri Chong Song (PRK) Ri Chong Song won the men’s 81kg in a gripping finish, denying 20-year-old Alexey Churkin from Kazakhstan, who made all six lifts. In the women’s 64kg session three hours later Ri Suk led a 1-2 finish for PRK and claimed the world record from China’s Deng Wei, who is now retired and expecting her first child. Ri Suk, 21, also bettered her own clean and jerk mark as she set four world records within three minutes in her final two lifts. Second-placed Rim Un Sim, who led at halfway, also went for world record attempts on her last two lifts but failed both times on 147kg and 148kg. Rim, 27, made 116-140-256, which was 2kg below her best, while Ri Suk’s six-from-six 115-149-264 was a career high by 4kg. China's teenaged debutant Li Shuang was third across the board on 107-134-241. Ri Suk (PRK) An Asian win at 81kg was assured when last year’s winner Oscar Reyes from Italy withdrew during the warm-up because of a back injury. All eight lifters in the A Group were Asian, as was the man who topped the B Group – multiple world record holder Rahmat Erwin from Indonesia, whose preparations were badly hampered by injury. Ri Chong Song, 27, was pushed very hard. He won snatch gold by 1kg ahead of Mukhammadkodir Toshtemirov from Turkmenistan, who was third on total on 165-190-355. Ri Chong Song did not even clean his first attempt in clean and jerk and, with his knees heavily strapped, he looked in trouble. Churkin did not. In his first competition at this weight after moving up from 73kg, he made 164-204-368. When he finished he was ahead by 3kg. Alexey Churkin (KAZ) After Ri Chong Song missed that first attempt, he got the second only after a jury review, the referees having deemed it a no-lift by majority. There was no doubt about his winning lift, nor about his pride as he sang the PRK anthem with gusto after the medal presentations. He made 166-205-371. Son Hyeonho from Korea, fourth overall, won clean and jerk bronze on 197kg. A year that had started so well for Rahmat ended disappointingly. When he won the Asian title in Uzbekistan back in February with a total of 363kg, he was clear at the top of the Olympic qualifying rankings and hot favourite for gold in Paris. Rahmat Erwin (INA) His team-mate Rizki Juniansyah knocked him out of Paris at the IWF World Cup in April, and there was never going to be a world title to end the year when Rahmat injured his lower back several weeks ago. “I haven’t been training in Indonesia. My only preparation was four sessions here,” he said as he stretched out to ease the pain afterwards. He made his lowest ever total at 81kg on 154-193-347, which was 16kg down on the total he made at 73kg at the Indonesia National Games before his injury in September. Two American women had a good day. Katie Estep, who had to sit an exam in Bahrain to keep up with her college studies, topped the 64kg C Group with a six-from-six total of 221kg. In the B group Sophie Shaft hit her funding target and set three junior national records on 101-124-225. Sophie Shaft (USA) “That’s up eight kilos on my total at the World Juniors in Spain in September, and that’s what I came here for,” said Shaft, 19, who had finished behind Estep in León. Shaft was good enough in gymnastics to train at the National Training Centre, and qualified four times for the CrossFit Games before she started weightlifting last year. “It’s great. Weightlifting is better than CrossFit, for sure,” she said. By Brian Oliver Photos by
