Bahrain, Day 4: Six world titles in a row for PRK – and Olympic champion Rizki is back after family tragedy
PRK made it six world titles in a row when they won both events, and set two more world records, on day four of the IWF World Championships in Bahrain.
On a day full of drama, Olympic champion Rizki Juniansyah from Indonesia made a medal-winning return to competition after losing his father less than two months ago. He finished second from the B Group.
Rizki Juniansyah (INA)
“I couldn’t believe it. I was sleeping in my hotel when my coach called to tell me I’d won a medal,” Rizki said. “I got here quickly because the hotel is only a few minutes away.”
Eight nations won medals in the two events, women’s 59kg and men’s 73kg. PRK won five, China four, Colombia three and Indonesia two. Snatch or clean and jerk medals went to Italy, Germany, Turkmenistan and Korea.
Kim Il Gyong claimed PRK’s first victory when she finished the 59kg session in spectacular style. After appearing to struggle with her first clean and jerk on 130kg, Kim was only 1kg ahead of Pei Xinyi from China with two attempts each to come.
Kim Il Gyong (PRK)
Pei missed both of hers, while Kim made 134kg and then jumped up to 141kg to claim world records from two Olympic champions, giving her all three at this weight. The clean and jerk mark was set by Kuo Hsing-Chun, the Tokyo winner, more than five years ago and the total was set by Paris champion Luo Shifang at the IWF World Cup in Thailand in April, where Kim had finished second.
Yenny Alvarez (COL)
Kim made a six-from-six 108-141-249. Pei finished 107-130-237 and Yenny Alvarez from Colombia was third on 98-126-224. Alvarez, the 2022 world champion, declined her final attempt after moving ahead of Suratwadee Yodsarn from Thailand. She was the first medallist on total from a Pan American nation.
Colombia was on the podium again in the men’s contest, which was won by Ri Ryong Hyon. B Group lifter Edwin Lagarejo took snatch gold and finished fourth on total. Lagarejo, who won the Pan American title in February, had been unable to get into the team until this year because of Luis Javier Mosquera’s dominance.
The other snatch medallists, Bunyad Rashidov from Turkmenistan and Roberto Gutu from Germany, dropped to 15th and seventh on total in the A session.
Ri Ryong Hyon (PRK)
Ri, 23, tried for a spectacular finish when he went for Rahmat Erwin’s clean and jerk world record on 205kg but he failed. In only his second international competition – the other was the Asian Juniors in 2019 – Ri made 152-197-349, giving PRK six wins in the past three days.
Rizki had failed with his final attempt on 200kg, finishing 150-190-340, and Zhong Zhuguang from China was third on 150-186-336, ahead of Lagarejo by 1kg.
“I only trained for this competition for two weeks, and I still got these,” Rizki said afterwards as he held up his medals, silver on total and bronze in clean and jerk behind Ri and Lee Sangyeon from Korea, who made 191kg.
“I had a break from training after the Olympics, and in October I lost my father in a motorcycle accident. It was a difficult preparation.”
Rizki is eyeing the new 79kg category at Los Angeles 2028 and hopes his team-mate Rahmat Erwin will go at 88kg. “It’s not good to have two strong lifters from Indonesia in one category.”
There was a big reaction from the American Caden Cahoy when he made his last lift on 187kg in the B Group. Cahoy, the 20-year-old junior world champion, hit the total he needed to secure funding and take his career on towards LA2028. His 145-187-332 was a 6kg improvement on his world title total in Spain in September.
Luis Javier Mosquera, a silver medallist at 67kg in Tokyo, made his final attempt to avoid a bombout, and survived a jury review, but he finished 11kg behind team-mate Lagarejo on 324kg.
Lucrezia Magistris (ITA)
Italy’s medallist was Lucrezia Magistris, who took snatch bronze in the 59kg to end a run of disappointments. Magistris had toiled throughout Olympic qualifying and made only nine good lifts in seven competitions before finishing 11th in Paris.
Here she started on lower openers. “It’s better for me, makes me more sure of myself,” said Magistris, who intends to use the same strategy at the European Championships in April. “In qualifying I started very high and there was a lot of pressure. This was an excellent restart after the Olympics.”
She needs to improve her clean and jerk, having missed her final two attempts today to finish 99-111-210. “I had an ankle injury two years ago. I have some technical issues to work on in clean and jerk, which is low compared to snatch.”
Magistris doubles up her weightlifting with studying to be a doctor at Pavia university. “I have to decide which is more important and right now it’s sport, so I’m taking my time over my studies,” said the 25-year-old. She started out in biotechnology and is now into her second year of medical studies.
By Brian Oliver
Photos by DBM/Deepbluemedia