The 2019 Weightlifting World Championships was held in Pattaya, Thailand from the 18th to the 27th of September. A huge 588 athletes from 97 nations competed in this Olympic qualifying event, to gain points for qualification for next year's Olympic Games.

China came away with 10 gold medals for Total, 29 gold medals overall, and 53 medals in total. North Korea were second place in both the gold medal table and overall medals. With a total of 180 medals up for grabs 32 countries medalled.

Egypt were banned from the championships for doping offences soon before the start of the competition, meaning prominent lifters Mohamed Ehab and Sarah Ahmed would miss the competition. Pending appeal of this suspension, it could mean that they will also miss the Olympic games! Athletes from Thailand also could not compete despite the championships being in their home nation due to a doping ban on Thailand.

GB team results

Great Britain took 13 lifters to Thailand, the majority of the team being women. It was amazing to see such a great British turn out whilst the sport is growing in our country!

Here are their results:

All Categories - Top 3s and World Records

Women's 45kg

The Women's 45kg group had some very close totals, and the only medallists from Turkey and Cuba.

1 - ERDOGAN Saziye 77/92/169 (TUR)

2 - MONTERO RAMOS Ludia 76/91/167 (CUB)

3 - SETIAWATI Lisa 70/95/165 (INA)

Men's 55kg

North Korean athlete Om Yun Chol took the gold medal for the 5th time, finishing with a 294kg total. A huge 28kg above Igor Son (KAZ) in second place. He hit a 128kg snatch, 8kg above his closest competition, as well as an amazing 166kg clean and jerk. This was 3x body weight, and a world record! There was also a new Youth snatch world record by 17 year old Italian Sergio Massidda - 109kg.

1 - OM Yun Chol 128/166(WR)/294(WR) (PRK)

2 - SON Igor 120/146/266 (KAZ)

3 - AL SALEEM Mansour Abdulrahim 188/147/265 (KSA)

Women's 49kg

An exciting race for the win and the world record total in the women's 49kg category saw two Chinese athletes battle it out. Hou first took the world record total at 211kg, and was soon topped by 1kg by Jiang. Indonesian youth lifter Windy Cantika Aisah (17y/o) took all 3 youth world records and finished in 9th place overall with 82/100/182kg!

1 - JIANG Huihua 94/118/212(WR) (CHN)

2 - HOU ZhiHui 94/117/211 (CHN)

3 - RI Song Gum 89/115/204 (PRK)

Men's 61kg

2018 Winner Irawan was out lifted by Chinese Li Fabin who hit new snatch and total world records. Qin Fulin, also from China, missed his snatches but returned with a bronze medal in the clean and jerk at 171kg.

1 - LI Fabin 145(WR)/173/318(WR) (CHN)

2 - IRAWAN Eko Yuli 140/166/306 (INA)

3 - MOSQUERA VALENCIA Francisco Antionio 130/172/302 (COL)

Men's 67kg

B group lifter Feng Lyudong of China took the Gold medal for the snatch and second place overall! Junior lifter Adkhamjon Ergashev from Uzbekistan took 7 junior world records after beating his own new record on every new lift, setting 146/182/328kgs and finishing in 4th place.

1 - CHEN Lijun 150/187/337 (CHN)

2 - FENG Lyudong 153/180/333 (CHN)

3 - PAK Jong Ju 142/188(WR)/330 (PRK)

Women's 55kg

Another group with Chinese athletes taking 2 podium spots, with Liao Qiuyun taking 1st and Zhang Waqiong taking 2nd. Liao Qiuyun took a Clean and Jerk world record at 129kg, and Junior lifter Yenny Torres took a Junior world record at 116kg.

1 - LIAO Qiuyun 98/129/227 (CHN)

2 - ZHANG Wanqiong 99/123/222 (CHN)

3 - DIAZ Hidilyn 93/121/214 (PHI)

Women's 59kg

More world records were broken in the Women's 59kg category CHOE Hyo Sim (PRK) took a snatch world record at 107kg and initially held new Clean & Jerk and total records before they were increased by group winner KUO Hsing-Chun (TPE).

1 - KUO Hsing-Chun 106/140(WR)/246(WR) (TPE)

2- CHOE Hyo Sim 107(WR)/138/245 (PRK)

3 - CHEN Guiming 101/132/233 (CHN)

Men's 73kg

Chinese athlete & 5 times world champion SHI Zhiyong took the win by 16kgs over second place O Kang Chol (PRK). He also hit world records in the Clean & Jerk and Total.

1 - SHI Zhiyong 166/197(WR)/363(WR) (CHN)

2 - O Kang Chol 154/193/347 (PRK)

3 - ANDREEV Bozhidar Dimitrov 157/189/346 (BUL)

Men's 81kg

Chinese weightlifting legend, 35 year old Lyu Xiaojun took his 5th World title with 3 gold medals and 3 world records, but this was by no means an easy battle. The 21 year old Chinese athlete Li Diyan was only 1kg behind Xiaojun, this obviously leading to questions about who will compete for China at the Olympics. Xiaojun was also battling a lower back injury which made it look like he would not finish the competition! Well worth a watch!

Of course in this category people were looking forward to seeing Ehab compete against Xiaojun, but he could not compete.

1 - LYU Xiaojun 171/207/378 (CHN)

2 - LI Dayin 171/206/377 (CHN)

3 - RODALLEGAS CARVAJAL Brayan Santiago 167/196/363 (COL)

Women's 64kg

The amazing Deng Wei defended her title and smashed all of her own world records finishing on a huge 261kg total, 10kg above North Korean RIM Un Sim. Deng Wei actually broke her Clean & Jerk record on her second attempt but continued for a third, which looked just as easy! 17 year old Fayzulleva (UZB) scored 3 youth World records and finished in 10th, with 97/124/221.

1 - DENG Wei 116(WR)/145(WR)/261(WR) (CHN) 

2 - RIM Un Sim 114/137/251 (PRK) 

3 - TOMA Loredana Elena 112/128/240 (ROU) 

Women's 71kg

America took gold and silver in the women's 71kg category. Kate Nye who dropped a weight class leading up to the championships took 1st place and a Junior World record in the snatch. She became the youngest American female world champion. Emily Godley took a bronze medal in the clean and Jerk and 4th overall, becoming the first British woman on the podium at a world championships in 25 years. 

1 - Kate Nye 112(WR)/136/248 (USA) 

2 - Mattie Rogers 106/134/240 (USA) 

3 - KIM Hyo Sim 110/120/230 (PRK) 

Men's 89kg

In quite a tight competition there was 6 medallists in the 89kg group, including the three lifters below on the total podium, Japanese athlete Toshiki Yamamoto with Clean and Jerk gold, Aliaksandr Bersanau (BLR) with silver in the snatch and Giovanni Sanchez (VEN) with bronze and also a Junior Snatch World Record.

1 - MKRTCHYAN Hakob 167/208/375 (ARM)

2 - MIRI Ali 167/207/374 (IRI)

3 - DAVITADZE Revaz 172/199/371 (GEO)

Men's 96kg

This category was shaping up to be an amazing competition, with Tian Tao, Kianoush Rostami, the return of Ilya Ilyin, and the unfortunately injured Sohrab Moradi not able to compete. It became one of the most tense groups of the championships!

Probably group favourite Tian Tao missed his first 2 snatches, finishing on 180, probably lower than he had hoped. Pliesnoi took the gold by 1kg. Unfortunately due to technical mix ups, Kianoush Rostami shockingly missed all three snatch attempts, and declined to compete in the clean and jerk. He has since released a statement to explain that he was aiming for a world record and wishes that he had made a more conservative effort, due to a misunderstanding in the Olympic Qualification system. He now faces not qualifying. Tian Tao went on to get the gold medal in the Clean & Jerk as well as the total. Artur Babayan lifted a youth snatch world record of 161kg also.

1 - TIAN Tao 180/230/410kg

2 - ELBAKH Ibrahim 178/224/402 (QAT) 

3 - PLIESNOI Anton 181//213/394 (GEO)

Women's 76kg

RIM Jong Sim increased her own world record in the snatch, lifting 6kg more than her closest rival, and won the gold medal for snatch and total, adding the to PRK medal list.

1 - RIM Jong Sim 124(WR)/152/276 (PRK) 

2 - ZHANG Wangli 118/153/271 (CHN) 

3 - DAJOMES Neisi 110/135/245 (ECU) 

Women's 81kg

A very exciting competition with only 1kg between each of the top 4 spots. The snatch competition made great viewing with none of the total medallists making the podium for the Snatch. The snatch gold medal went to B Group South Korean athlete LEE Jieun, who excitedly watched the A Group whilst realising her lift would not be matched. Silver snatch medallist and fellow South Korean KIM Suhyeon bombed out on Clean & Jerks, leaving the competition open for the top three to gain places with some impressive numbers. Leidy Solis took the top spot by 1kg over seasoned athlete, Lydia Valentin, with Jenny Arthur just one more kilo behind them. We also saw Gaelle Ketchanke came back from her horrible injury at the European Championships earlier this year. 

1 - SOLIS Leidy 105/142/247 (COL) 

2 - VALENTIN Lydia 108/138/246 (ESP) 

3 - ARTHUR Jenny 106/139/245 (USA) 

Men's 102kg

Belarussian athlete Tsikhantsou made top spot on the podium with two second place lifts in a tight group!

1 - TSIKHANTSOU Yauheni 180/218/398 (BLR) 

2 - JUN Yunseong 181/216/397 (KOR) 

3 - DEHDAR Reza 175/219/394 (IRI) 

Men's 109kg 

Armenian lifter Simon Martirosyan defended his title with all 3 gold medals. The top 3 athletes in the group each in turn broke the snatch world record beating eachothers by 1kg unntil Martirosyan took 199kg. Akbar Djuraev (UZB) who came in 4th beat all 3 Junior world records! 

1 - MARTIROSYAN Simon 199/230/429 (ARM) 

2 - ARMNAU Andrei 198/228/426 (BLR) 

3 - YANG Zhe 197/223/420 (CHN) 

Women's 87kg

WANG Zhouyu (CHN) climbed two weight classes from winning the women's 76kg class last year, and managed to come out on top this year in the 87kg category. 

1 - WANG Zhouyu 120/158/278 (CHN) 

2 - KIM Un Ju 115/154/269 (PRK) 

3 - SALAZAR ARCE Tamara 108/144/252 (ECU) 

Women's 87+kg

19 year old Li Wenwen crushed the plus category competition, winning 3 gold medals, 2 senior world records and 2 junior world records for her Clean and Jerk and total. She already holds the snatch world record but hit just 1kg below it. Kashirina took all 3 silvers, and after 8 World championships now holds 24 World medals. 

1 - LI Wenwen 146/186/332 (CHN) 

2 - KASHIRINA Tatiana 140/178/318 (RUS) 

3 - MENG Suping 137/174/311 (CHN) 

Mens +109kg

Probably as everyone expected Lasha Talakhadze took all 3 gold medals and 3 world records, finishing 24kg above second place Minasyan. He increased his own snatch world record by 2kg and secured 1st place with just his first Clean and Jerk but of course completed his next 2 lifts to set a new record. Minasyan was also 23kg above 3rd place Aleksanyan. 

1 - TALAKHADZE Lasha 220/264/484 (GEO) 

2 - MINASYAN Gor 212/248/460 (ARM) 

3 - ALEKSANYAN Ruben 192/245/437 (ARM)