Artyom Antropov claimed Kazakhstan’s second victory in two days at the IWF World Championships in Bahrain when he made the last lift of an exciting 102kg session to push Meso Hassona from Qatar down to second place.
Spain had its first ever World Championships medal on total when Marcos Ruiz finished third. China won the women’s 81kg, in which Mongolia’s most decorated weightlifter earned a place on the podium in her farewell performance.
Artyom Antropov (KAZ)
Antropov was way down in 12th place at halfway and Meso was seventh, but their strength in clean and jerk was always likely to make it a contest between the two of them at the finish.
Antropov and Meso made five of their six clean and jerks while the other 22 athletes managed only 26 between them.
Meso, who had failed to make a total at the Paris Olympic Games, recovered after missing his first clean and jerk to make 174-225-399. Antropov, two years younger at 24, started on 220kg then took clean and jerk gold on 227kg. He needed another 3kg to win on total, and made the lift impressively.
Meso Hassona (QAT)
Antropov finished 170-230-400. His final lift was 2kg below the clean and jerk world record held by Olympic champion Liu Huanhua from China. Antropov has never competed against Liu and is looking forward to doing so, and going for his world record, at the Asian Championships in China in May.
“You don’t want to miss that one,” said Antropov. “I thought I might have a chance at the world record tonight, but it didn’t work out that way. This was a proud moment for Kazakhstan, winning twice in two days.”
Marcos Ruiz (ESP)
Ruiz, who made a five-from-six 183-212-395, was in the super-heavyweights at the Tokyo Olympics. This was by some distance his best total at 102kg, and he is likely to drop to 98kg when the new weight categories are used from June.
Among the many no-lifts were five junior world record attempts, three by Shahzadbek Matyakubov from Turkmenistan and two by Alireza Nasiri from Iran. Matyakubov joined his team-mate Davranbek Hasanbayev – who won snatch bronze from the B Group – in bombing out. Aymen Bacha from Tunisia was second in snatch and fourth on total. Jhonatan Rivas from Colombia, fifth on total, was third in clean and jerk on 213kg.
Liao Guifang claimed China’s second win of the Championships when she finished clear of the double Olympic medallist Sara Samir from Egypt at 81kg. Liao made all six lifts for 123-155-278, while Samir failed with three attempts on 113-149-262.
Liao Guifang (CHN)
Kim Kyong Ryong maintained PRK’s run of being on the podium in every event they have contested, finishing third on 114-147-261. Mongolia’s best ever lifter, triple Olympian Ankha Munkjantsan, went out on a high. She retired after winning snatch silver and finishing fourth on total from the B Group on 116-137-253.
Ankha is retiring 12 days before her 27th birthday because of persistent injury problems. Despite making her best ever total, there will be no change of mind.
“Seventeen years I have been in this sport,” she said. “That is a long time. I need to stop, but I will still be involved in national competitions. I could never leave weightlifting completely.”
Ankha Munkjantsan (MGL)
She wants to spend more time with her family – and make it bigger. “I want four more children,” said Ankha, who has a six-year-old son.
She began lifting internationally as a 13-year-old in 2010. Ankha won the 87kg world title in 2021, the year when she was one lift away from winning an Olympic medal in Tokyo. She finished fourth.
At Rio 2016 she was ninth at 69kg, and in Paris Ankha was 10th at 81kg. Because of her injuries – “back, shoulder, hip, elbow, all over” – she bombed out five times and made only one total during the Paris qualifying period, but that one total was good enough to qualify.
Her final total was 28kg more than she made in Paris and 1kg better than her previous career high, which came in the 87kg category in Tokyo.
“I had special treatment in Taipei in May. I wasn’t really fit enough for Paris but now I feel healthy, no injuries. I wanted to finish with a medal and I’m very happy that I did it. I thought I would be in the A Group here but maybe it worked out better that I was in B.
“I was the first weightlifter from my country ever to compete in the World Championships. Winning that gold medal in 2021 was my best memory.”
Yekta Jamali (WRT)
Yekta Jamali from the Weightlifting Refugee Team (WRT) improved her best total by 6kg in making 104-133-237 for seventh place. Jamali, from Iran and now living and studying in Germany, has made steady improvement this year, the highlight of which was lifting in Paris for the WRT.
So, what are targets for 2025? “That’s for me to know,” she laughed. “The numbers are in my head but I’m not sharing them.”
By Brian Oliver
Photos by DBM/Deepbluemedia
