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Forde, Day 8: Sensational Solfrid gets royal approval from King of Norway – and another world record for Karlos Nasar

Solfrid Koanda claimed a dramatic home victory in front of a packed crowd of 1,700 that included a very special guest – Harald V, King of Norway. There was more excitement to come on day eight of the IWF World Championships when Karlos Nasar was out of the medals in snatch but rounded off the day with a clean and jerk world record and his eighth straight win. Koanda had kept a back injury secret and was pushed all the way in the 86kg category by Yudelina Mejia from Dominican Republic, who led until the Olympic champion’s final lift at the Fordehuset in Forde. Solfrid Koanda (NOR) Koanda was in tears, flat out on the floor in the back room, when her triumph was confirmed by Mejia’s failure to make her last lift. The King applauded, the crowd roared, and Koanda had her second world title on 120-152-272. Tears flowed again after the medal ceremony, and during her TV interview. “That was my best day,” Koanda said. “It was unbelievable to see people wearing my name on their shirt, and to perform here for such a wonderful home crowd. “Thankyou to them, thankyou to the King for coming, it was a great honour. The King told me, ‘Good job, I was very proud of you.’ Koanda with King Harald V of Norway and IWF President Mohammed Jalood in the back “It’s difficult to describe how much work went into winning these medals. I had a back injury that I kept to myself. There were periods when I couldn’t train properly, and sometimes it was hard just to bend down and do the simple things. “It was only in the last week that I knew I could do it. I knew I could trust my legs, I knew what I could do and today I felt good. I trusted myself and it went really well. “I want to thank everybody who helped me, supported me. I’m going to celebrate now with friends and family, I’m going to enjoy myself. “I’m proud of myself, of my team and I’m proud of the organisers of these Championships.” Koanda’s average winning margin in eight victories since 2022 was 22kg. Today it was one kilogram.    Yudelina Mejia (DOM) Last time out Mejia lifted at her heaviest ever body weight to win the 86kg Pan American title on 123-147-270, by far her best performance. Here, Mejia led at halfway after Koanda missed her third snatch on 123kg. When she missed her second clean and jerk on 150kg Koanda grimaced in pain. She was in trouble, needing 152kg to take the lead. She did it, to huge cheers, and Mejia failed on 153kg, to more huge cheers. Eileen Cikamatana (AUS) Mejia finished 122-149-271, another best total, and Eileen Cikamatana from Australia was third on 112-140-252 from two good lifts. Two 19-year-olds were next. The snatch bronze medallist Rahma Ahmed from Egypt was fourth for the second straight year, on 115-135-250, and Wakana Nagashima from Japan was fifth with a six-from-six 108-138-246. An 18-year-old from New Zealand, Litia Nacagilevu, also made all six lifts for ninth place on 109-131-240. Karlos Nasar (BUL) Nasar was surprisingly out of the medals in fourth place at halfway in the 94kg contest before pulling ahead in clean and jerk. He did it in style, finishing with the clean and jerk world record of 222kg. On 173-222-395, Nasar finished 4kg clear of the snatch winner Alireza Moeini from Iran. Moeini led Nasar by 9kg after making a snatch world record on 182kg – becoming Iran’s first world record holder since Sohrab Moradi. Jokser Albornoz from Colombia was hugely impressive in winning three medals – one more than Nasar - from the B Group. He took snatch bronze, clean and jerk silver and bronze on total with a six-from-six 175-215-390. Albornoz, 21, put 28kg on his best total, which he made at the Bolivarian Games just under a year ago. He has been competing only in national competitions after going up in weight. Alireza Moeini (IRI) “He is our star for the future. Dedicated, disciplined - what an athlete,” said William Peña, president of the Colombian Federation. Albornoz may lift again this year, at the Bolivarian Games beginning in late November. Ali Alipour from Iran was fourth on 176-211-387. His former team-mate Kianoush Rostami, lifting for Kosovo for the first time, was fifth with 172-205-377 from two good lifts. “I will do much better next year,” said Rostami, 34, who won Olympic gold in 2016. In two and a half years since his first senior European title as an 18-year-old, Nasar has set 23 world records – 12 senior and 11 junior. In that time he has won Olympic gold, two world titles, a World Cup, a Grand Prix and been European champion three times. All this despite a seven-month injury absence in 2023. Jokser Albornoz (COL) Nasar was Bulgaria’s Sportsperson of the Year last year, and this victory may help him to retain that title. Stefan Botev won the award back in 1990, when Bulgaria was a powerhouse in world weightlifting, and is now president of the national federation. After years of decline, Nasar is helping the sport back to prominence in his home country, said Botev, who presented the medals at Fordehuset alongside Pyrros Dimas “Karlos is one of the top personalities in Bulgaria now, not just in sport but in news and other areas of the media. It’s very good publicity for us, and we are seeing the results with more members joining our clubs. Many boys want to be a weightlifter now.”  By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio

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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