WEIGHTLIFTING – Karlos May Nasar of Bulgaria and Olivia Lynn Reeves from the US were last night crowned world champions of their respective weight classes on an historic evening in the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships 2024, currently being hosted by the kingdom.
Nasar took the second world title of his career after sweeping all three gold medals yesterday – for snatch, clean and jerk, and total – in the men’s 89kg A competition, while also setting an astonishing two new world records.
Reeves, meanwhile, secured her crown in the women’s 71kg A division after coming away with the clean and jerk and total golds, while also securing a silver medal in the snatch.
Both lifters were gold-medallists at this year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games and have now added world championship glory to their incredible year.
Their victories last night also halted the dominant run of North Korea’s lifters, who won eight straight world titles in Bahrain heading into yesterday’s events.
This year’s world championships are being held under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad’s representative for humanitarian work and youth affairs and Supreme Council for Youth and Sport chairman Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
There are nearly 500 of the world’s best lifters, both men and women, competing in the kingdom, flying the flags of more than 90 countries from around the world.
In a sensational display of lifting last night, Nasar showed why he is one of the biggest names in the sport as he set new world records for snatch and total and also flirted with a clean and jerk world record.
He opened his medal bid with a best lift of 183kg in the snatch, which secured his first gold of the night and which surpassed the previous world best of 182kg held by Yeison Lopez of Colombia. Nasar then completed a 222kg lift on his second attempt in clean and jerk, which ensured his second gold and the world record for total at 405kg. That beat out the previous record of 404kg which he had also set.
The 20-year-old then took a shot at the clean and jerk world record of 224kg, which he also owns. Nasar tried to complete a staggering 225kg lift on his third and final attempt, but couldn’t hold on after getting the bar overhead.
Nasar still came away with his second world title, which adds to the maiden crown he claimed in the 2021 edition of the championships, held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Ro Kwang Ryol of North Korea secured the silver medals for total at 380kg and for clean and jerk at 218kg. Marin Robu of Moldova took the total bronze with a 379kg aggregate, adding to his silver medal in the snatch at 173kg. Sarvarbek Zafarjonov of Uzbekistan won bronze for his best snatch of 171kg, while Pan Yunhau of China took the clean and jerk bronze at 208kg.
In yesterday’s women’s 71kg A contest, Reeves took both the total and clean and jerk gold medals with marks of 267kg and 147kg, respectively. She had earlier won the silver in snatch at 120kg.
North Korea’s Jong Chun Hui was the silver-medallist on totals at 262kg. She also claimed silver in clean and jerk at 146kg and the bronze for snatch at 116kg. Taking the bronze medal for total was Yang Qiuxia of China at 261kg. Yang had struck gold in the snatch with a best lift of 121kg, but then had to settle for bronze in the clean and jerk with a 140kg effort.
The worlds continue today with the seventh day of competition at the special venue located across Bahrain National Theatre in Manama.
Five categories are in action, headlined by the men’s 96kg A division at 5.30pm and the women’s 76kg A category at 8pm. Also today are the men’s 96kg C at 11am, the men’s 96kg B at 1pm, and the women’s 76kg B at 3pm.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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