The rescheduled 2020 Asian Weightlifting Championships (AWC) are taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from April 16-25, 2021, and will likely be remembered as a demolition derby of world records. Many of the athletes across the field in both the men’s and women’s divisions brought their best and set new benchmarks for the heaviest ever competition lifts.
Here are the records that have been broken thus far:
Hou Zhihui — Gold, Women’s 49 kilograms
- Snatch — 96 kilograms (211.6 pounds)
- Total — 213 kilograms (469.6 pounds)
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu — Bronze, Women’s 49 kilograms
- Clean & Jerk — 119 kilograms (262.4 pounds)
Kuo Hsing-Chun — Gold, Women’s 59 kilograms
- Snatch — 110 kilograms (242.5 pounds)
- Total — 247 kilograms (544.5 pounds)
Shi Zhiyong — Gold, Men’s 73 kilograms
- Snatch — 169 kilograms (372.9 pounds)
Li Dayin — Men’s 81 kilograms
- Snatch — 175 kilograms (385.8 pounds)
Yang Zhe — Men’s 109 kilograms
- Snatch — 200 kilograms (441 pounds)
Ruslan Nurudinov — Men’s 109 kilograms
- Clean & Jerk — 241 kilograms (531 pounds)
The 2020 AWC is a gold-level qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, set to take place July 23 through Aug. 8, 2021.
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[Related: Team USA Weightlifter Cicely Kyle (45KG) Sweeps Gold At Pan American Championships]
Women’s 49 Kilograms
Hou Zhihui scored two world records at the 2020 AWC in the snatch and total. She held the previous snatch world record of 95 kilograms (209.4 pounds) and bested Jiang Huihua‘s previous world record total by a kilo.
The clean & jerk world record at 49-kilograms was also bested at the 2020 AWC by India’s Saikhom Mirabai Chanu. She surpassed Jiang Huihua’s previous world record clean & jerk by a single kilo.
Check out both world record lifts below — snatch at 43:36 and clean & jerk at 1:33:40:
[Related: Lasha Talakhadze Sets Two World Records — 222-Kilogram Snatch/485-Kilogram Total]
Women’s 59 Kilograms
Kuo Hsing-Chun used the AWC to cement herself as the top weightlifter at 59 kilograms. With this new snatch world record of 110 kilograms (242.5 pounds), Kuo now holds all three world records in this weight class. For reference, her world record clean & jerk is 140 kilograms (308.6 pounds), and her world record total is 246 kilograms (542.3 pounds). The previous world record snatch was 107 kilograms (235.9 pounds) set by Choe Hyo Sim.
Check out the new world record snatch below at 34:11.
[Related: 67-Kilogram Weightlifter Liu Weijian Clean & Jerks Unofficial World Record Of 190 Kilograms]
Men’s 73 Kilograms
Shi Zhiyong is a dominant force at 73 kilograms. Before stepping onto the platform at the 2020 AWC, he held all three world records in the class. His new snatch world record of 169 kilograms (372.9 pounds) bests his previous record from the 2019 AWC by a single kilo. His 363-kilogram (800.3-pound) total at the 2020 AWC matched his current world record first scored at the 2019 Weightlifting World Championships (WWC) in Pattaya, Thailand.
For reference, Shi’s current clean & jerk world record is 198 kilograms (436.5 pounds) — four kilograms more than what he lifted at the 2020 AWC. Shi has hit a 199-kilogram (438.7-pound) clean & jerk in a national competition, which means that the Chinese clean & jerk record is a kilo more than the current clean & jerk world record.
Check out Shi’s 2020 AWC performance, courtesy of LUXIAOJUN’s YouTube channel. The world record snatch takes place a 3:28:
[Related: Weightlifter Emily Muskett Ends Britain’s 26-Year Gold Medal Drought at the 2021 EWC]
Men’s 81 Kilograms
Teammates Lü Xiaojun and Li Dayin both scored snatch world records at this event. Xiaojun hit 174 kilograms (383.6 pounds), beating out now-retired Mohamed Ihab of Egypt’s previous record of 173 kilograms (381.4 pounds). Dayin then tacked an additional kilo and claimed the record himself — 175 kilograms (385.8 pounds).
Men’s 109 Kilograms
The world records in the 109-kilogram weight class have finally been shaken up. Before the 2020 AWC, Simon Martirosyan (Armenia) held all three records. However, Yang Zhe of China bested Martirosyan’s now-previous world record by a single kilogram, snatching 220 kilograms (441 pounds). Shortly after, Ruslan Nurudinov of Uzbekistan also bested Martirosyan by one kilogram. He hit a clean & jerk of 241 kilograms (531 pounds) and now holds the world record.
BarBend will update this article further if additional world records are secured at the 2020 AWC.
Featured image from shizhiyong’s Instagram page: @shi_zhi_yong
