IWF World Weightlifting Championships 2023: Preview, full schedule, and how to watch the Paris 2024 Olympic qualifier live
Find out the key things you need to know about the weightlifting worlds in Riyadh, which will be streamed live on Olympic Channel, one of two mandatory qualifying events for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,
The best lifters on the planet are about to descend upon Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, for the 2023 IWF World Weightlifting Championships from 4-17 September, which will be broadcast live on Olympic Channel.
This is one of two mandatory qualifying events for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the other being the 2024 IWF World Cup in Thailand next April.
Athletes must appear in Riyadh if they are to be in line to earn one of the 10 quota spots in each of the 10 Olympic weight classes via the IWF Olympic Qualification Ranking (OQR).
One further quota place in each class will go to a National Olympic Committee (NOC) from a continent not already represented.
NOCs can send a maximum of three lifters per gender, and no more than in each weight class, to Paris.
Hosts France are guaranteed four quota berths – two men, two women – but can obtain two more through the OQR.
Six more spots – three men, three women – are Universality places made available to NOCs who would otherwise have little chance of representation at the Games making 120 in total.
As NOCs have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Who to watch at IWF World Weighlifting Championships 2023
There are a total of 20 weight classes, 10 per gender, being contested in Riyadh. Unlike the Olympic Games where the medals are decided by total weight lifted – separate medals are awarded for the snatch, clean and jerk, and total weight.
The People’s Republic of China topped the medal table in Bogota at the 2022 World Championships in December and look set to do so again.
Olympic 61kg champion Li Fabin will bid for a third world title in Riyadh while Tokyo 2020 -67kg gold medallist Chen Lijun could try to wrest the world crown back from Colombia’s Francisco Mosquera or drop down to take on Li in an Olympic weight class.
Tokyo silver medallist Eko Yuli Irawan will also compete, with the 34-year-old Indonesian hoping to win a fifth Olympic medal in Paris to add to his two silvers and two bronzes at previous Games.
In the women’s 49kg class, Jiang Huihua defends her title against Tokyo champion Hou Zhihui with India's Saikhom Mirabai Chanu only taking part in the weigh-in to save herself for the Asian Games later this month.
The Philippines’ first Olympic champion, Tokyo 55kg gold medallist Hidilyn Diaz, moves up to 59kg with her old weight class dropped from the Olympic programme. This could be one of the competitions of the fortnight with reigning champion Yenny Alvarez of Colombia, Canada’s Olympic -59kg gold medallist Maude Charron and China’s 64kg champion from last year, teenage sensation Pei Xinyi, all entered.
The women’s 81kg also looks stacked with China's reigning champ Liang Xiaomei up against the gold and silver medallists from last year’s 76kg competition in Bogota, Egypt’s Sara Samir Ahmed and Mattie Rogers of the United States, and Ecuador's Tokyo Olympic 76kg gold medallist Neisi Dajomes.
Dajomes' sister Angie is one of the favourites at 71kg after breaking the snatch world record at June's Havana Grand Prix in Cuba. Facing her will be Romania's reigning champion Loredana-Elena Toma and USA's Olympic 76kg silver medallist Kate Vibert (formerly Nye).
The super-heavyweight divisions – +109kg and +87kg in Riyadh as opposed to +102kg and +81kg at Paris 2024 – will see Olympic champions Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia and China’s Li Wenwen defend their world titles.
Olympic silver medallist Ali Davoudi of the Islamic Republic of Iran will take on Talakhadze in the men’s +109kg, while Tokyo medallists Britain’s Emily Campbell and Sarah Robles of the United States will attempt to dethrone Li in the women’s +87kg.
Qatar's history-maker Fares El-Bakh, also known as Meso Hassouna, defends his 102kg title with Armenia's reigning European 109kg champion Samvel Gasparyan and Tunisia's Aymen Bacha among his rivals.
IWF World Championships 2023 schedule
Group A contests listed below, Olympic weight classes in bold (all times local Arabia Standard Time – UTC+3)
Monday 4 September
- 19:00 Women’s 45kg
Tuesday 5 September
- 16:30 Women’s 49kg
- 19:00 Men’s 55kg
Wednesday 6 September
- 16:30 Men’s 61kg
- 19:00 Women’s 55kg
Thursday 7 September
- 19:00 Men’s 67kg
Friday 8 September
- 19:00 Women’s 59kg
Saturday 9 September
- 19:00 Men’s 73kg
Sunday 10 September
- 19:00 Women’s 64kg
Monday 11 September
- 16:30 Men’s 81kg
- 19:00 Men’s 89kg
Wednesday 13 September
- 16:30 Men’s 96kg
- 19:00 Women’s 71kg
Thursday 14 September
- 16:30 Women’s 76kg
- 19:00 Men’s 102kg
Friday 15 September
- 16:30 Women’s 81kg
- 19:00 Women’s 87kg
Saturday 16 September
- 16:30 Women’s +87kg
- 19:00 Men’s 109kg
Sunday 17 September
- 16:30 Men’s +109kg
For a full schedule, click here.
How to watch the 2023 IWF World Weightlifting Championships
All the Group A action from the IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh will be streamed live – subject to geographical restrictions - on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices.