Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu wins silver medal at World Championships

Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu bagged a silver medal in the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships in Bogota, Colombia. Mirabai lifted a total of 200kg (87kg snatch + 113kg clean & jerk), 2kg more than the Olympic champion from China Hou Zhihua (198kg) and 6kg behind another Chinese, Jiang Huihua (206kg: 93+113) who won the gold medal.

Hou Zhihui of China took bronze with 198 (89kg plus 109 kg). Mirabai's wrist problem became apparent when she struggled with the overhead lift in her second clean-and-jerk attempt, but she recovered fast to finish with the best lift of 113kg. She had the best attempt of 87kg in the snatch event. Mirabai took home the silver in the clean and jerk category with her 113kg attempt.

This was Mirabai's second Worlds medal, having previously won gold at the 2017 World Championships with a lift of 194kg (85kg plus 109kg). She came in fourth place in the 2019 edition. Olympic champion Hou appeared to be labouring on the day, lifting significantly below her personal bests of 96 kg in snatch and 118kg in clean and jerk (Mirabai holds the world record in that, at 119kg).

According to the Paris Olympics qualifying system, a lifter needs to compete in two compulsory events - the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 World Cup. The 2022 World Championships are the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be cut from 14 at Tokyo Games to 10.