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Riyadh, Day 2: World records for China’s Jiang, and place on podium for USA’s Delacruz

China began their campaign with a 1-2 finish and two world records on the second day of the ÏWF World Championships in Riyadh. Jiang Huihua made six from six and took her record to 16 good lifts from 18 attempts in Paris 2024 qualifying when she won the women’s 49kg. In second place was her team-mate Hou Zhihui, the Olympic champion who has been beaten by Jiang three times since winning in Tokyo. By ending with a good lift at 120kg Jiang, 25, set world records in clean and jerk and total. By making 95-120-215 she moved 4kg clear of Hou at the top of the long list in the rankings, and 15kg clear of her nearest rivals in the simplified list. Hou, who made 95-116-211, had tried to better her own world record on total a minute earlier but failed on 119kg. Jourdan Delacruz (USA) “The good news for us is that China can only take one athlete to Paris,” joked Mike Gattone, a very happy United States performance director after Jourdan Delacruz finished third and joined three others on 200kg in the long list. All three are Asian, Mirabai Chanu from India – who weighed in without lifting in Riyadh and lost her clean and jerk record to Jiang - and the Thailand pair Surodchana Khambao and Thanyathon Sukcharoen. That is no surprise, because nobody from outside Asia has been on the podium in the lightest women’s category in the past four Olympic Games. Delacruz, who failed with her first attempts in snatch and clean and jerk, recovered to make 88-112-200, taking bronze in clean and jerk and total. She is the only non-Asian ever to have totalled 200kg in the 49kg category, a feat she first achieved in winning the Pan American title in 2021. Did it feel better second time around? “Oh yes,” said Delacruz, “because these are my first world championships medals. “I was disappointed to miss my openers but there were a lot of successes there and I’m really proud of myself. “I love competing, but what really gives me the biggest buzz in weightlifting is reaching my personal goals and to keep improving – it’s a long-term thing for me and it’s going well.” There were some big moves in the Olympic rankings, led by 19-year-old Rosegie Ramos from the Philippines.  Ramos went from 49th in the long list, where she was behind team-mate Lovely Inan, to the top 10 on the simplified version by making a five-from-six 86-102-188. Inan failed to make a total. Mihaela Cambei (ROU) Mihaela Cambei from Romania was only 2kg short of 200kg when she won the European title in April and it was looking good for her when she came out last in the snatch – a rarity with two Chinese lifters in the field – and made 90kg, which won her the snatch bronze. But two failures followed, the second of them when she dropped the bar off the front of the platform, and there was a repeat in clean and jerk when Cambei opened with 105kg before two missed attempts. Cambei is entered for the IWF Grand Prix in Qatar in December, when she will have another chance to become the first European to breach the 200kg mark. Khambao aws fourth on total on 87-109-196, and Hayley Reichardt of the United States was a place behind Cambei in sixth, making only two good lifts in a total of 189kg. While other medal contenders saw red lights, there were none for the Chinese until Hou’s failed world record attempt. In the second medal event of the day, the men’s 55kg, Lai Gia Thanh struck gold at the fourth attempt after failing to make a total at the World Championships in 2018, 2019 and 2022. Lai Gia Thanh (VIE) The 2018 junior world champion made a career-best 123-146-269. He has now won seven of his past 10 competitions, and failed to make a total in the other three. Lai Gia’s team-mate Ngo Son Dinh had a sweep of silvers on 117-144-261, with Natthawat Chomchuen from Thailand third on 116-143-259. Saudi Arabia came desperately close to a medal when Mansour Al Saleem made the same numbers as others in snatch, clean and jerk and total but finished fourth in all three. The snatch bronze went to Thada Somboon Uan from Thailand, and the other two bronzes to his team-mate Chomchuen. Al Saleem, 35, had plenty of support from the home crowd, who cheered him off after his brave attempt to win a medal. After making his second clean and jerk, Al Saleem fell to the floor and screamed in pain. He was suffering severe muscle spasms and had to be carried off the platform – but a few minutes later he was back, trying in vain to make 147kg for clean and jerk gold. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio

China sends a strong message before the Paris 2024 Olympics

In the first final of an Olympic bodyweight category at the 2023 IWF World Championships, the women’s 49kg, the team of China demonstrated once again why they are so hard to beat in the lighter categories. In the 10-athlete Group A, there were in fact two distinct competitions – the one between Hou Zhihui and her Chinese teammate Jiang Huihua for the gold, and then the rest of the field for the third place, won by US Jourdan Delacruz. The Asian duel opposed the 2020ne Olympic champion and world record holder (213kg) Hou and the 2022 champion and 2023 Asian gold medallist Jiang, with a personal best of 212kg. In the Paris 2024 Olympic ranking, the latter was already an advantage with her 207kg from the continental showcase, while the Tokyo winner had 204kg, also from Jinju (KOR). Jiang Huihua (CHN) In Riyadh, the two lifters from the Asian powerhouse appeared in great shape, delivering an outstanding show and very solid performances. In the end, Jiang got the gold in a new world record of 215kg (95+120, also a new WR in the clean and jerk). The previous best global mark was in Hou’s hands from 2021. The current Olympic champion finished second in Saudi Arabia, with a total of 211kg (95+116). With this result, the two Chinese lifters naturally lead the Olympic ranking, but Jiang has a decisive advantage, as only one athlete per nation can compete in each bodyweight category at Games time. Asked about her expectations coming to Riyadh, Jiang Huihua promptly replies: “The first goal was to ensure that the gold medal stays in Chinese hands. After having the guarantee that the victory would come to China, we then thought about the World Record. To be honest, at the beginning of the competition this wasn’t on my mind, but with the way the final unfolded, the idea got consolidated. But the priority was to be on the top of the podium”. Hou Zhihui (CHN) Having reinforced her position at the lead of the Olympic ranking qualifying for Paris, Jiang is confident that she will maintain that status until the Games unfold in the French capital. “Nothing is definitive, but I will for sure do my best to remain in the first position. If I always try my best and I am successful, I believe it will be difficult to lose this advantage,” the 2023 world champion admits. Reflecting on the “internal” fight within the Chinese team, Jiang is quite pragmatic: “I don’t really think about that. The main thing is to do always the best I can. If this is enough, that’s good. If I cannot make it, well, the door is open for the others”. And she quickly adds: “I may still have some room to improve this world record…” Finally, for Paris, the target is already set: “Lift at least these 215kg!” Next to her, the Vice-President of the Chinese Weightlifting Association Liu Chengliang was also a happy man. “The Chinese team values a lot this competition, the biggest and most prestigious event in the IWF calendar. All the lifters from our delegation prepared very seriously for this event, as we naturally expect to get good results”. On this so brilliant start, the Chinese official praised the two athletes: “They both have brilliant careers and achieved excellent results. Being so good lifters, they always aim at the gold. Today, they didn’t fail and on top of that Jiang improved Hou’s world record. The gold was expected, but the global mark was a good surprise. Overall, it was a brilliant performance! It reflects quite well the Olympic spirit: to always strive for the best”. The women's 49kg podium On the Paris 2024 prospects, Mr Liu is optimistic, but emphasises that the Olympic competition is “full of uncertainties. That is why they must remain concentrated and perform at their best, without hesitation”. And he goes on: “We must also not forget that many young and talented athletes are appearing at the highest level. There is a lot of improvement worldwide and the quality of the lifters is constantly increasing. In Paris, the field will be extremely strong. We don’t take nothing for granted!” On the upcoming days, the Chinese responsible is also clear: “We haven’t established any limit in terms of medals. We are confident that it will be successful and that the hard preparation won’t let us down”. At the 2020ne Tokyo Games, out of the 14 gold medals at stake (seven in each gender), the Chinese team won half of them (four among men and three in the women’s field). By Pedro Adrega, IWF Communications Photos by Giorgio

Riyadh, Day 1: Photo Gallery

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Riyadh, Day 1: The numbers look good for Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Madagascar

A Saudi Arabian athlete appropriately made the opening lift when the 2023 IWF World Championships began in Riyadh, where a number of other “firsts” and records will be made over the next two weeks. This is the first time Saudi Arabia has hosted a weightlifting World Championships, at 14 days it is the longest to date, and it the first one at which all athletes hoping to compete at the next Olympic Games must take part, under the Paris 2024 qualifying rules. It features the most athletes and the most International Technical Officials ever at 719 and 65 respectively, and the IWF Congress on September 12 is on course for a record attendance, with 153 nations due to attend. [caption id="attachment_38563" align="alignleft" width="683"] Saudi athletes and the IWF President Mohammed Jalood[/caption] “I hope we see one more record here too – for the most world records at a World Championships,” said IWF president Mohammed Jalood. There was no world record on day one but Jalood was delighted to witness a memorable moment when Rosina Randafiarison gave Madagascar its first World Championships medal not just in weightlifting but in any Olympic sport. Randafiarison screamed and screamed, then leaped into the arms of her coach after making her final snatch attempt at 77kg in the women’s 45kg, the first medal event of the Championships. [caption id="attachment_38564" align="alignleft" width="1024"] Rosina Randafiarison (MAD)[/caption] That secured snatch silver and Randafiarison had more reason to scream when she matched it in the clean and jerk despite failing with her final two attempts. Randafiarison, 23, improved her career best by 14kg on 77-93-170 behind the clear winner Siriwimon Pramangkhol from Thailand, who declined her final lift and finished 78-101-179. “It’s wonderful – we have never won a medal like this before,” said Alex Randriamanarivo, president of the Madagascar Weightlifting Federation and general secretary of its National Olympic Committee. Thailand took the title for a third straight time despite the fact that the reigning champion Thanyathon Sukcharoen failed to make a total. Sukcharoen, a winner at 45kg in 2021 and 2022, was competing in the C Group at the Olympic weight of 49kg and made only a solitary snatch of 70kg. She is joint second in the Olympic rankings alongside Mirabai Chanu from India. Like the Tokyo silver medallist Chanu, who withdrew after weighing in, Sukcharoen may be saving herself for the Asian Games which begin in Hangzhou, China on September 30. [caption id="attachment_38565" align="alignleft" width="1024"] The women's 45kg podium[/caption] Pramongkhol made five from five and bettered her winning total at the Asian Championships by 1kg. Cansu Bektas, the European champion from Turkey, was third on 75-87-162, so three different continents were represented on the podium. Monerah Alrowitea opened the Championships with a good lift in the 49kg D Group. Alrowitea is the first of 10 Saudi females here, a record team size for a nation where there was no women’s weightlifting before 2019. Another team with more World Championship athletes than ever before is Ireland, a sign of impressive growth. Rebecca Copeland had a career-best total of 149kg, and Tham Nguyen was hoping for a career high too after a 79kg snatch bettered her previous top effort by 1kg. [caption id="attachment_38567" align="alignleft" width="683"] Rebecca Copeland (IRL)[/caption] Two failures in clean and jerk left Nguyen on 172kg, just short of her best total in qualifying to date and she remains 20th in the standings. The team of six in Riyadh is the largest Ireland has ever sent to an IWF World Championships, in a year when it also sent its biggest team to date to the European Youth and Under-15 Championships. It had its most successful missions to two other continental events, the seniors in April and the junior and under-23s in July. “It has really taken off – you can feel a buzz around Irish weightlifting now,” said national coach Harry Leech. “Until 2014 we had never even entered a woman in European or World Championships.” Back then, there were no weightlifting-only clubs in Ireland: now there are 29 affiliated clubs. Nguyen won Ireland’s first ever medal at the European Championships in Yerevan, Armenia in April and was later chosen by the IWF as one of 10 athletes to receive $5,000 to help fund their Olympic qualifying effort. Ireland also had its first European under-15 medallist in July, and its first female continental Under-23 medallist in August, Callum Quinn and Keilin Coleman respectively. There is more of everything for Ireland now - medals, money and most important of all, athletes. There are about 600 registered members, and for the first time there is state funding for the Olympic hopefuls, €30,000 specifically to help the four athletes in the Paris 2024 qualifying system – Nguyen, Hannah Crymble, Gillian Barry and Seán Brown. “When I started in weightlifting in 1999 there were 79 athletes on the ranking list in Ireland and only two of them were women,” said Leech. He said Irish weightlifting had benefited from the general trend of “women feeling strong, women training with weights, young women seeing the sport on social media and saying, ‘Oh, I didn’t know weightlifters looked like that.’ “At our competitions the women outnumber the men 60-40.” By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio

Loa Dika Toua (PNG): “I broke a lot of barriers in this sport”

At only 16, after only two previous presences at international events, Loa Dika Toua made history at the 2000 Games in Sydney (AUS). It was the inaugural women’s weightlifting competition ever in the Olympic arena and the young athlete from Papua New Guinea was the first one to lift the bar in Australia. “I was of course very nervous. I was young, and I knew this was a historical moment”. From writing history, she became a legend, in her own tiny nation, but also in the widest world of weightlifting. Today, at 39 – she was born on June 23, 1984 – Toua was again in action on the initial day of the IWF World Championships in Riyadh (KSA). Competing in Group C of the women’s 49kg, Toua made a valid snatch at 69kg, and then a clean and jerk of 92kg, for a total of 161kg. Her goal: to compete at what would be her sixth Olympic Games, next year in Paris – an unprecedented feat both among men and women! Since that glorious start in Sydney, the PNG hero only missed the 2016 Games in Rio. After a 117.5kg total in Australia, Toua has progressed to a best of 184kg at the Beijing 2008 rendezvous – her highest ranking was however a sixth place at the 2004 Athens Olympics. “If I manage to go to Paris next year, I won’t definitively be so nervous… I have now some experience!” she says laughing. Disappointed with her total in Saudi Arabia – “I was aiming at least 170kg” -, she recalls the tiredness of the long travel since Papua New Guinea and some logistical difficulties at her arrival in Riyadh. “I definitively wanted to do better, but I am already happy that I have a total here. I still have opportunities to improve – I intend to compete at the IWF Grand Prix in December and in the IWF World Cup in April 2024. My goal is to qualify through the Olympic ranking, but if this is not possible, I still can hope for a universality place”.  Mother of two children, she gave birth for the first time in 2006. One of the athletes competing with Toua in her group was from 2005 and she naturally laughs: “Yes, I could be the mother of some of them… But they are all extremely talented and motivated!” Elected some months ago as the President of the PNG Weightlifting Federation, Toua conciliates the daily two-training sessions with all the “official and administrative duties associated with the Federation”.  And there is a lot to do in Papua New Guinea. “We lack many resources, especially financial and equipment ones. I am trying to get more interest from our government in our sport so that more lifters from my country can reach an acceptable level. But, it’s a huge challenge. Sometimes, we still train under the mango trees, so to say”. Aware of her ambassador role in the sport, Toua confesses that she “broke a lot of barriers throughout her long career”. The fundamental one was the perception that weightlifting was not an activity fit for women. “They told me: you won’t grow up, you won’t have children… I had a perfectly normal life, I had two children and I am still here to prove that they were wrong! Also, I am happy to see that many women having kids can return to competition”. After more than 20 years at the highest level – she won several medals at the Commonwealth Games, Pacific Games, and Oceania Championships – Toua’s longevity is also proof that age can be challenged. “It may look like I’m forcing a bit, but I love competing and meeting so many people inside the weightlifting family. And if I can write another page of history, why not?” By Pedro Adrega, IWF Communications Photos by Giorgio

Riyadh, Opening: The Best Photos

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