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China's Yang wins women's 77kg gold as Peng breaks snatch world record at world championships

2026-11-05 23:51 Xinhua

NINGBO, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese lifter Yang Qiuxia claimed the women's 77kg gold at the world weightlifting championships here on Thursday, while her teammate Peng Cuiting broke the snatch world record twice on the way to silver.

Yang, competing at 77kg after moving up from 71kg, lifted 120kg in the snatch and 145kg in the clean and jerk for a 265kg total. Peng, who went six for six, opened with 121kg in the snatch, then cleared 124kg and 126kg to wipe out the previous world record of 123kg set by Olympic champion Olivia Reeves of the United States at last year's world championships. Her 136kg clean and jerk gave her a 262kg total.

Egypt's Sara Samir Ahmed took bronze with 258kg, followed by Colombia's Mariana Mena Mosquera on 254kg and Russia's Varvara Kuzminova on 253kg.

"Breaking the world record has always been my wish," Peng said. "I've had this level in training for years, and today I finally did it, at a world championship back in China after so many years. I was really excited."

The Guangdong lifter, who won the 81kg title at last year's National Games of China on home soil in Dongguan, said she still needs to strengthen her absolute strength and will keep working on her clean and jerk. "I don't want to shine only in the snatch," she said.

Yang had to hold off Ahmed, who lifted 144kg in the clean and jerk to stay in contention. "When she made 144, I thought I was the host, and I cannot let the gold go to someone else," Yang said. "I had to stand up, and I did."

Yang, who set a 71kg snatch world record of 122kg at the 2025 Asian Championships, said she had only lifted 145kg in training before the championships, and was pleased to match that number on the platform.

The championships, the first stop on the qualification trail for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, run until Nov. 8.

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