The global strength of weightlifting was highlighted in Lima when athletes from 22 countries were on the podium on a truly international day at the World Youth and Junior Championships
the Pacific island whose population of 12,000 is 1.4 billion less than China
The medallists came from all five continental federations
“I am so happy about this,” said the IWF President Mohamed Jalood
and Albania taking medals at the same time as China is an example to everybody of weightlifting’s popularity in all parts of the world.”
Jalood was speaking after presenting the medals to Albania’s first champion
Carja broke all three European youth records in making 98-115-213
“We’ve been waiting for this,” said her coach Eglantina Kalemi
Albania’s first world champion and three European records – that’s very impressive!”
She made only two of her six attempts on 92-110-202
Seyedeh Hosseini from Iran was third on 86-111-197
China had a 1-2 finish in the Juniors ahead of Sophia Shaft from the United States
and Shaft made 97-126-223 from her two good lifts
It was a bad day for Yedige Yemberdi from Kazakhstan
who was unbeaten before today and had won one youth and two junior world titles since 2022
His strength is in clean and jerk but this time he failed twice in that discipline and was out of the medals on total
Chen Shunnan from China won on his international debut
making 156-190-346 from four straight good lifts
Yemberdi’s Kazakhstan team-mate Yerasyl Saulebekov
That left Azuma Rakuei from Japan in second place on 155-185-340
Khikmatillo Khaydarov from Uzbekistan won snatch bronze on 154kg and Yemberdi was third in clean and jerk on 187kg
which was 12kg lower than his best effort in last year’s World Juniors
Serhii Kotelevskyi from Ukraine had a nervous wait before he could celebrate his Youths victory
The 16-year-old European youth champion made five from six for 142-172-314
then had to watch as Didarbek Jumabayev from Turkmenistan tried to overtake him
Jumabayev failed with the first of his two remaining attempts
then made a 10kg jump to go for gold in clean and jerk and total
He got the bar up but lost it behind and finished 137-168-305
Maksims Vasilonoks from Latvia was third on 136-161-297
and Samuele Di Marzio from Italy was fourth
Jose Mantilla from Mexico won bronze in clean and jerk on 166kg
Park Ju Hyeon from Korea made a 7kg jump on his final attempt to win clean and jerk gold and the Junior world title on 147-177-324
who was second in the Asian Juniors last December
denied Tiberiu Donose from Romania with that last lift of the session
and third-placed Mohamed Al Marzouq from Saudi Arabia finished 146-170-316
Hussein Abdelrahman from Egypt won here last year when Lima hosted the World Youths
and repeated the feat today at a different weight
He moved up from 67kg and finished a long way clear
tried and failed for all three youth world records with his final attempts of 145kg in snatch and 177kg in clean and jerk
made 130-160-290 and the bronze medal went to Yernur Myrzakhmet from Kazakhstan on 131-155-286
The top three Juniors were all former Youth world champions – at three different weights
Thanaporn Saetia from Thailand was an impressive winner on 96-115-211
Two years after winning the youth world title at 64kg
having won the Asian and world titles within five months
She was youth world champion two years ago at 55kg
Xeniya Prozorova was a clear winner for Kazakhstan in the Youths
The 15-year-old debutant made five good lifts for 91-108-199 before declining her final attempt
The Asian youth champion Marjona Abdumutalova from Uzbekistan made 88-102-190 in second place
competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete
becoming the third Russian youth medallist in two days
Ivanis Silva from Venezuela won snatch bronze on 86kg
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Zinad Joseph and Lokoro Dario in Lima (© Andrea Swayne & Emily Alvarez)
For three members of the U20 World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team (ART)
the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 offered a remarkable ‘finish line’
James Lomoi Lochauluka and Lokoro Dario stepped up to compete on the global stage
This final edition of the U20 Athlete Refugee Team yearbook charts their journey
from the launch of the pioneering U20 project through to the team’s participation at the World U20 Championships
eight years after forming the senior refugee team
World Athletics embarked on a mission to create an U20 Athlete Refugee Team with emphasis on athletics and education
This pilot launched with an original group of 10 young refugee athletes from Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and the team increased to 15 athletes during the final two years.
World Athletics also trained six coaches – five of whom now hold both World Athletics Level I & Level II Coaches Education & Certification System (CECS) certificates
a pathway was created for the U20 ART members to participate in local athletics competitions
Lochauluka and Dario were joined at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 by coaches Arcade Arakaza and Janeth Jepkosgei
All five share their thoughts in this latest edition of the yearbook
which also includes comment from World Athletics President Sebastian Coe and Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei
we came to terms with the unique needs of refugee athletes and fully recognise the value of professional training
monitoring and nurturing of refugee athletes from the U20 up to senior level,” said World Athletics’ Community Relations & Public Affairs Senior Manager Alice Annibali
“Reflecting on the starting blocks in 2022
it was beyond our imagination that one of the original U20 refugee athletes would end up competing in the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” added Annibali
referring to senior ART member Perina Lokure Nakang
“This is the magic of our sport and the power of athletics.”
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There were three world records on a busy opening day of the 2025 World Youth and Junior Championships in Lima
where the two competitions were staged simultaneously on two platforms for the first time
Brazil had its first global champion and first female world record holder when 14-year-old Isanelly Da Silva overcame a shaky start to win the youth 40kg title in style
Kotaro Tomari from Japan claimed junior world records in snatch and total as he turned the tables on last year’s winner K Duong from Vietnam at 55kg
China took the junior women’s 45kg and the 17-year-old Moldovan Danu Secrieru had his second big success of the month when he won the youth 55kg
made an impressive recovery after failing with her first two snatch attempts
but I was always thinking about records and I knew I would make the third one,” she said
She took the clean and jerk youth world record in making 57-77-134
finishing 1kg short of the world record on total
Da Silva won the Pan American youth title on her only previous international appearance
“Isanelly has so much mental strength,” said Brazil’s national coach Dragos Doru Storica
“She had me worried after two failures but said
don’t worry.’ We had three targets here – to win on total
to win clean and jerk gold and to set a world record
She delivered all three so it’s a great day for Brazil.”
Althea Bacaro from the Philippines was second on 58-72-130 and Jyoshna Sabar from India third on 56-72-128
Ecrin Naz Sahin from Turkiye won snatch silver on 57kg
The youngest athlete in the Championships was close to winning medals
was fourth in clean and jerk and total on 55-70-125
The top two finishers both failed with youth world record attempts
Winner Jay Colonia from the Philippines was close to making 126kg
which would have taken the clean and jerk record from Vietnam’s Do Tu Tung
“It was my first international competition so I was a little bit nervous
made 94-121-215 ahead of Christian Di Maria from Italy on 99-115-214
Di Maria had already won snatch gold when he failed with a world record attempt at 101kg
Harsaabardhan Sahu from India was third across the board on 87-110-197
had won all six of his previous competitions and was favourite to make it seven in the Juniors
but Tomari made all three snatches – including that world record 123kg – to build an unassailable lead of 10kg
He took the title on 123-143-266 and was thrown up in the air by his team-mates after the medal presentations
K Duong – described in his home media as “the bright new face of Vietnamese weightlifting” – had finished 6kg clear of Tomari
This time he had his worst snatch performance in two years
K Duong won clean and jerk gold but declined his final lift
Zhang Weiqiang from China was third on 111-136-247
The Youths winner was Danu Secrieru from Moldova
who was second at the senior European Championships in his home country 16 days ago
but that was good enough to put him ahead of his Asian challengers
Hung Van The from Vietnam was second on 105-131-236 and Mohammed Al Ojaian from Saudi Arabia third from the B Group on 103-130-233
Hu Yuhuan from China won the junior title by a wide margin on 74-96-170 despite failing with her final attempt in both snatch and clean and jerk
the Asian junior champion from Thailand who made 72-89-161
Angeline Colonia from the Philippines – cousin of the men’s 49kg champion Jay Colonia – was third on 72-88-160
Lifters from the C and B Groups were on the podium in the Youth contest
Alexsandra Diaz from the Philippines was the only A Group medallist
Her father is a cousin of the Tokyo Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz
cousin of the Paris Olympian Katherin Echandia
Her fellow B Group lifter Kateryna Malashchuk from Ukraine was third on 69-81-150
won clean and jerk gold on 84kg from the C Group and finished fourth on total
Among the other C Group athletes were weightlifting’s youngest ever world champion and the daughter of the first woman ever to make a lift at the Olympic Games
Ivy Buzinhani from Canada made all six attempts for 65-78-143
which was 23kg more than her total two years ago when she made weightlifting history by winning the 40kg youth world title in Albania aged 12 years 264 days
In 12th place Ani Geua Gavera from Papua New Guinea made 52-61-113
a big improvement on her previous best effort
She benefited from taking part in a pre-Championships training camp in Peru funded by the IWF
Gavera’s mother Dika Toua was first on the platform
at Sydney 2000 when women’s weightlifting was added to the Olympic Games programme
who teams up with husband Willie Tamasi to coach her
“She’s been aware of weightlifting pretty much as soon as she was born
“Ani was very good at netball as well as weightlifting and we sat down and told her she needed to choose one or the other a couple of years ago
She made the right choice and went for weightlifting.”
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accounting for the great majority of the country’s industrial output and nearly all of the volume of its financial transactions
The size of Lima’s population makes it the premier market for all domestic and imported goods; Limeños make some four-fifths of the country’s consumer purchases each year
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Albert Delos Santos from the Philippines was the star of a hectic second day at the 2025 World Youth and Junior Championships in Lima
He won the Junior 67kg title in dramatic fashion
posting 51kg more than his last competitive total after recovering from a bad back injury
The last of his six good lifts took Delos Santos past the leader from China
and gave his team a second title within minutes after Jhodie Peralta had won the women’s 55kg Youths on the other platform
while the other four medal events on day two were won by Egypt
who won the Youth world title at 61kg two years ago
I had a bad time with my back injury last year
I was excused by my university to prepare for these Championships and I put total concentration into it.”
and also the man who helped him through with coaching and advice – Julius Naranjo
husband of the Philippines’ Olympic gold medal hero Hidilyn Diaz
“I owe them both so many thanks,” said Delos Santos
who is studying business and finance as well as training hard
The last time I made a total it was in 2023 when I was still a 61
All that’s happened since then… that’s the beauty of sport
nearly two years after his 258kg total at the Asian Juniors in 2023
He bombed out in the World Juniors last year because of his back injury
Yang finished 140-167-307 on his international debut
and Diyorbek Ruzmetov from Uzbekistan was third on 139-163-302
Engin Kara from Turkiye was third in snatch
A leader from China was in danger of being beaten in the concurrent women’s 55kg session
but Celine Delia from Italy could not make the 119kg she needed for victory over another debutant
and Delia went past 200kg for the first time on 91-114-205
Aleksandra Grigoryan from Armenia struggled for the second time
having made only two good lifts at the European Championships in Moldova last month
She put everything into her final attempt to take third place
Chen Guan-Ling from Chinese Taipei also had a bad day
The multiple champion made only her first and last attempts on 90-113-203
finishing out of the medals on total at an IWF competition for the first time since 2022
Another champion who was out of form was Ogulshat Amanova from Turkmenistan in the 55kg Youths
She had a clean and jerk bronze and nothing on total after missing four attempts
Moldova continued its impressive run of results when Nicoleta Cojocaru was third on 82-100-182
Margot Kochetova from France won bronze in snatch on 80kg
Elsayed Aly from Egypt made it to the top of the podium at the third attempt in an exciting Juniors session that featured more red lights than white ones
There was a bombout by the PRK newcomer Kim Ju Phyong
He injured himself on his second clean and jerk and retired
Kim’s mishap came during a slew of no-lifts as athletes tried and failed to move on to the podium
Elsayed was the only A Group lifter to make all three clean and jerks
He recovered from missing his first two snatch attempts to finish 122-160-282
Elsayed was second and third behind American winners Gabe Chuum and the Olympic medallist Hampton Morris
was confident about finishing in style on 160kg
He plans to move up to the new 65kg category for the future
Jose Gonzalez from Colombia was first in snatch and second on total on 125-148-273 and Giga Odikadze from Georgia was third on 123-147-270
The 16-year-old B Group athlete Ramazan Efe Yilmaz from Turkiye was second in clean and jerk on 153kg
as well as second on total in the Youths behind Beibarys Yerseit from Kazakhstan
Yerseit made 117-145-262 in the A Group to win the youth title on his first international appearance
Yilmaz made a huge improvement on his previous efforts after going up in weight and hitting top form in clean and jerk
He won World and European titles at 55kg last year
the Individual Neutral Athlete from Russia
Harrison McGrogan was third in the B Group and fifth on total
an impressive effort in Ireland’s first ever appearance at the World Youths
McGrogan constantly breaks Irish records and he did it again on 109-137-246
He had a go at overtaking Tsakaev on his final attempt at 146kg but could not complete the jerk
“An Irish weightlifter going up against a world champion and a Russian at the end of a session – that’s never happened before,” said coach Seán Brown
McGrogan was a gymnast then a rugby player before his father encouraged him to try weightlifting
“It’s the feeling after a good lift that I like most about the sport,” said McGrogan
who sits important exams next week in maths
He is from the north and therefore eligible for the Commonwealth Games for Northern Ireland
He will try to hit the qualifying targets this year
There was a big cheer from the Venezuela team when Luis Garcia made his final attempt to claim the title
was 10kg behind the leader Dan Dorin Betca from Moldova at halfway
and still had 8kg to make up in two remaining attempts when Betca finished on 122-146-268
Ali Hussin Alhawar from Saudi Arabia was third on 120-144-264
the same total as fourth-placed Dmitri Abralava from Georgia
who made all six attempts and won silver in clean and jerk
Kamil Andrzejewski from Poland took bronze in snatch on 121kg and finished fifth
All the youth lifters competed in the B and C Groups
Yan Qihui from China declined her final attempt after missing her second clean and jerk
but she had already won the Junior title on 79-100-179
Kerlys Montilla from Venezuela was second and Lucia Gonzalez from Spain third
Montilla made five good lifts – more than any other A Group junior – for 77-99-176
who won World and European youth titles last year
made 80-95-175 despite missing her final two attempts
The snatch gold medallist Luluk Wijayana from Indonesia bombed out in clean and jerk
Rosalinda Faustino from the Philippines lost her chance when she failed to make the weight
Kelly Ponciano from Mexico was a surprise winner in the Youths when she took advantage of errors by Y Lien
Lien missed four of her attempts in making made 74-94-168
well below her performance last December when she won the Asian Youth and Junior titles
Lien looked as if she had made her final attempt
had made an impressive save after losing her balance to finish 74-96-170
Three continents were represented on the podium
Boyana Kostadinova from Bulgaria won snatch gold and improved her best total by 3kg in third place
The B Group winner Enderlin Ulacio from Venezuela won clean and jerk bronze on 91kg
There was a remarkable sight at the medal presentation after an entertaining women’s 71kg session at the World Youth and Junior Championships in Lima
Peru – weightlifters from Canada and New Zealand standing on the podium above an athlete from China
Charlotte Simoneau continued her remarkable run of results by winning her second Junior world title for Canada
improving her best numbers yet again on 111-134-245
In all but one of her 10 competitions to date Simoneau
has improved her best snatch or clean and jerk
Olivia Selemaia from New Zealand made all six lifts
putting 13kg on her previous best total on 106-129-235
Before the medal ceremony Selemaia ran across the back room to congratulate Nehemiah Elder
who became Fiji’s first world champion when he won the Youths 89kg title in the concurrent men’s session on the other platform
There was more to come for Oceania when Seine Stowers from Samoa finished second in the women’s 76kg Youths behind Varvara Kuzminova
Kuzminova broke youth world records in snatch and total and finished second in the Juniors too
“When I looked at the schedule a few weeks ago I told Paul Coffa (continental federation general secretary) that it could be Super Saturday for Oceania
and it is,” said Selemaia’s coach Simon Kent
who is president of the New Zealand Federation
because Femily Notte from Nauru won medals in the Youth women’s 64kg
“Over the past few years we’ve started to work together a lot more in Oceania
after a period when we had our differences
We smash each other in training and then we’re all mates again
Samoa has a lavish new weightlifting institute and academy
Fiji is planning to open a new training centre within two years
“We’ve got so many kids with the physique and explosive power for weightlifting in Fiji
“They’re all drawn to rugby but we want them to come into the greatest sport of all.”
is playing her part in promoting the sport
She is one of four national team members who coach weightlifting at schools in Auckland
as part of the federation’s ‘Lift for Gold’ scheme
That means she is training and coaching full-time
“Her performance today has been coming,” said Kent
“It’s her first year out of school and that’s made a big difference.”
Simoneau is unable to go full-time because she is still studying
having recently switched from natural science to industrial engineering
and for extra income she works in her grandparents’ flower shop at weekends when she is not competing
“It’s Mother’s Day in Canada next Sunday so I’m going to be busy,” she said
The Chinese athlete who took bronze was 20-year-old international debutant Wang Menting
Maria Mena from Colombia won snatch silver on 106kg
Wang’s 17-year-old team-mate Lin Jingwei won the Youths world title in spectacular style
She jumped from 118kg to 131kg on her fifth attempt and made it to claim youth world records in clean and jerk and total
She had failed with a snatch world record attempt and finished 100-131-231
was second in the Youths on 93-117-210 and Kira Danilova from Kazakhstan third on 94-115-209
Dilnura Kholdorova from Uzbekistan won snatch bronze on 93kg and Maryia Ivanova from Belarus
Ella Nicholson from the United States had to fight to win her second straight Junior world title
was 8kg below her winning total last year but found enough for victory on her last attempt
She broke the youth snatch world record twice
and took the total record too on 108-127-235
Jeon Heesoo from Korea was third in the Juniors on 102-123-225
Bronze medals were won by Nana Khorava from Georgia in snatch on 103kg
and Alexandrina Ciubotaru from Moldova in clean and jerk on 124kg
Stowers took Youths silver despite making only two good lifts on 98-116-214
Third place went to Minni Hormavirta from Finland on 90-117-207
Goga Jajvani from Georgia was fourth in the 2023 World Youths and in last year’s World Juniors
winning the Junior title with his final attempt at 198kg
19-year-old Jajvani made 162-198-360 ahead of Angel Rodriguez from Venezuela on 164-195-359 and David Cuesta from Colombia on 163-196-359
Ilya Salehipour from Iran won bronze in clean and jerk on 195kg
was the only youth lifter in the A session
He just failed with a final attempt at 188kg and finished 152-180-332
That was 70kg more than his last total in an IWF competition 14 months ago
“In that time I’ve done a lot of hard training
been to recent camps in Samoa and Australia
and made 142-175 in an invitational competition in Brisbane,” he said
“God’s been with me for constant training and belief
so I’m pretty much a full-time weightlifter
“I had a lot of nerves here because it’s by far the biggest competition I’ve been to
Two international debutants were a long way back in second and third
Munisbek Davletov from Uzbekistan made 140-179-319 and 15-year-old Khuthair Qaiti from Iraq made 145-173-318
Junior champion Ahmed Gamal Elbasyouni from Egypt improved his total at last year’s World Juniors by 40kg
He was ninth on 326kg in Spain last September
would have won on total had he made his final attempt on 209kg
He failed and finished fourth on158-203-361
Zarei’s team-mate Amirhosein Sepahmade 165-199-364 in second place
The Youths winner was Grigor Ghazaryan from Armenia on 145-185-330
well ahead of Yslam Akmyradov from Turkmenistan on 141-175-316
Parv Chaudhary from India was third on 140-175-315
Seven Russian neutrals have competed in Youth categories so far and all seven have won at least one medal
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