Picture by EDDIE KEOGH
Preview, schedule, stars to look out for and how to watch the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships from 5-16 December. Olympic Channel will be live streaming the event, which will serve as first qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The strongest weightlifters in the world will gather in Bogota, Colombia for the 2022 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships.
The stakes will be as high as ever at the event scheduled for December 5-16, as it’s the first qualifying tournament for lifters on the road to Paris 2024 Olympics.
Several Olympic and world champions are among the leading names confirmed for the weightlifting headline event of the year.
The People's Republic of China athletes, who won 22 medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, are expected to make a winning return to top-flight competition after a 14-month absence.
Most of the Chinese gold medallists from Tokyo, who skipped the recently held Asian Championships in Manama, Bahrain, to focus on the Worlds, are expected in Bogota, where fellow Olympic champions Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, Maude Charron, Ruslan Nurudinov, and Lasha Talakhadze - among others - have confirmed their attendance.
Here is everything you need to know about the upcoming World Championships, the competition schedule, how to watch and the stars to keep an eye on in Bogota.
With 23 athletes the Chinese team will have one of the largest teams in Bogota apart from the hosts who have also opted to field a full squad.
Team China clinched a record seven gold medals at Tokyo 2020 and are keen to extend their dominance in Paris.
The men’s 67kg will pit Olympic champion Chen Lijun and two-time Olympic medallist Luis Javier Mosquera, who's looking to take advantage of home support as he seeks his first-ever world title. Lijun is back on the global stage seeking a fifth World gold medal.
His teammate Li Fabin broke two Olympic records on his way to the 60kg gold. He is tipped to regain his 2019 World title after his nation skipped last year’s event in Uzbekistan due to Covid restrictions.
Shi Zhiyong, the double Olympic champion in the 73 kg, is a favourite to extend his unbeaten record that dates back to 2021.
Shi bettered his national record with a total of 365kg at the 2021 National Games of China, a mark that exceeded his Tokyo gold medal result of 364kg which stands as world record.
Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Akbar Djuraev is gunning for his second world gold and has been in brilliant shape ahead of the global event.
In June, the 22-year-old Uzbek - who was the second youngest Olympic champion in the sport - shared on his social media that he had crushed the current world record in the heavyweight category of 109kg.
Georgia's reigning world and Olympic Champion Lasha Talakhadze and history-maker Fares El-Bakh, who won Qatar’s first-ever gold medal at the Games in Tokyo, will also compete.
The highlight in the women’s competition is likely to be the 55kg class, where Diaz-Naranjo, Philippine's first Olympic gold medallist, targets her first world title.
Last July, Diaz wedded her coach Julius Naranjo, who is keen to ensure his wife qualifies for her fifth swansong Olympics in Paris, where will compete in the competitive 59kg as the 55kg has been dropped from the 2024 Games.
The Filipino star is likely to face 2022 bronze medallist Zulfiya Chinshanlo of Kazakhstan, who bagged gold at the Asian Weightlifting Championships held in October.
The category Diaz-Naranjo is eyeing next is the 59kg ruled by Kuo Hsing-chun.
The Chinese Taipei lifter will be in action on the big stage for the first time since winning her fifth world title in Tashkent last year, months after setting three Olympic records on her way to the gold medal in Tokyo.
Canadian star Charron will also be seeking to make more strides in her career in the same weight category.
The current Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion aims to better her silver from the 2017 Worlds as she dreams of going back to the Olympics.
"My motivation to go back to the Olympics is not to get another medal or defend my title, it's just to have an Olympics like I dreamed about," Charron was quoted by cbc.ca.
"I dreamed about an Olympics with my family. I dreamed about an Olympics where I would go to the opening ceremony without being afraid of catching COVID.
"It wasn't the Olympics, I was expecting, so I feel like I have to give a shot to the next one to live the kind of Olympics I always dreamed about.”
The Chinese pair of Olympic champions Wang Zhouyu and Li Wenwen are also tipped to post some huge figures in Bogota as they target more world titles in the 81kg and 87kg categories respectively.
Ecuadorian weightlifter Neisi Dajomes is one of the picks to snatch up the 81kg where world champion Ao Hui and her compatriot Liang Xiaomei, the Chinese record holder, boast of the highest entry total at 270kg.
Dajomes who grabbed gold ahead of American star Katherine Nye in the 76kg in Tokyo, proved she is still the woman to beat winning her second gold medal at the South American championships in October, where she set the area record with her lift of 115kg.
Nye has stepped down to 71kg for the worlds.
(all local times: UTC -5)
11:30- women 45kg(B)
14:00- men 55kg(B)
17:00- opening ceremony
19:00- women 45kg(A)
21:30-women 49kg(C)
11:30- men 61kg(C)
14:00- women 49kg (B)
16:30- women 49kg(A)
19:00- men 55kg(A)
21:30- Women 55kg(D)
9:00- women 55kg(C)
11:30-men 61kg(B)
14:00- women 55kg (B)
16:30- men 61kg(A)
19:00- women 55kg(A)
21:30- Women 59kg(D)
9:00- women 59kg(C)
11:30-men 67kg(C)
14:00- women 67kg(B)
16:30- women 59kg(B)
19:00- women 59kg (A)
21:30- men 73kg(D)
9:00- women 64kg(D)
11:30-men 73kg(C)
14:00- men 73kg(B)
16:30- men 67kg(A)
19:00- men 73kg (A)
21:30- women 64kg(C)
11:30- men 81kg(D)
14:00- men 81kg(C)
16:30- women 64kg(B)
19:00- women 64kg (A)
21:30- men 89kg(C)
9:00- women 71kg(C)
11:30-men 81kg(B)
14:00- men 89kg(B)
16:30- men 81kg(A)
19:00- men 89kg (A)
21:30- men 96kg(D)
9:00- men 96kg(C)
11:30-women 71kg(B)
14:00- men 96kg(B)
16:30- men 96kg(A)
19:00- women 71kg (A)
21:30- men 102kg(C)
9:00- women 76kg(C)
11:30-men 102kg(B)
14:00- women 76kg(B)
16:30- women 76kg(A)
19:00- men 102kg (A)
21:30- women 81kg(C)
9:00- women 87kg(C)
11:30-women 81kg(B)
14:00- women 87kg(B)
16:30- women 81kg(A)
19:00- men 87kg (A)
21:30- men 109kg(C)
9:00- women +87kg(C)
11:30-women +87kg(B)
14:00- men 109kg(B)
16:30- women +87kg(A)
19:00- men 109kg (A)
11:30-men +109kg(C)
14:00- men +109kg(B)
16:30- men +109kg(A)
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