Lima, Preview: China and PRK set for gold – and world records – in Peru  

More than 500 of the world’s best young weightlifters will be in Lima, Peru over the next week when, for the first time, the IWF Youth and Junior Championships are staged concurrently.

It will be a very busy six days (April 30 to May 5), with 26 sessions on two platforms. First weigh-in will be at 7am on most days, and the last lift will be about 13-14 hours later.

For the first time since the Covid pandemic, the sport’s two strongest nations have entered teams in the Juniors – China with 12 athletes and PRK with two. China also has two in the Youths.

Kim Yong-ju (PRK)

The United States, which topped the medals table at the past two World Juniors, has a combined youths and juniors team of 25. They include 18-year-old Ella Nicholson, a 76kg world champion in both age groups.

Peru has the most athletes with 36, while other large teams include Venezuela, Chinese Taipei, Mexico, Colombia, Bulgaria, Poland and Turkiye. There are 17 Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) from Russia and Belarus.

The two juniors from PRK look capable of winning, and could set yet more world records in the process.

Elsayed Ali (EGY)

Kim Yong Ju will be favourite in the women’s 81kg after two impressive results in senior competitions. Kim, 20, competed at 87kg while weighing less than 82kg, and finished second at the World Cup in Thailand a year ago on 268kg, which is 8kg more than Eileen Cikamatana’s junior world record. She also won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Bahrain last December.   

The other PRK entry is Kim Ju Phyong in the men’s 61kg, where he is up against the Egyptian teenager Elsayed Aly, who was second and third at past two Junior Worlds.

Chen Guan-ling (TPE)

Another athlete aiming for world records is Chen Guan-Ling from Chinese Taipei at 55kg. She set four of them in León, Spain last year when she won the junior world title for the second time. Chen, 20, also won senior World and Asian titles in 2023 and 2024.

Chen’s rivals include the 18-year-old newcomer Wei Tingna from China, and Aleksandra Grigoryan from Armenia, who went for the clean and jerk world record twice at the recent European Championships in Moldova but failed both times.

China has strong entries at 71kg, where Charlotte Simoneau from Canada will be defending her junior world title.

The men’s 81kg and 102kg both look high on quality. Yedige Yemberdi from Kazakhstan, unbeaten in four competitions, is aiming for a third straight junior world title at 81kg, where his rivals include team-mate Yerasyl Saulebekov, a double youth world champion, and the Chinese teenager Chen Shunnan.

Mattheus Pessanha (BRA)

Mattheus Pessanha from Brazil was second in the individual rankings in León last year behind the man who beat him in a memorable 102kg contest, Shahzadbek Matyakubov from Turkmenistan.

Matyakubov is too old for the juniors now and Pessanha will be hoping for gold this time. Mahmoud Hosny from Egypt and Abolfazl Zare from Iran are also contenders.

By Brian Oliver