China's Liao sweeps women's 86kg gold medals, breaks two world records

China's Liao Guifang put together a dominant performance at the IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, east China’s Zhejiang Province, on Saturday, sweeping all three gold medals in the women's 86kg category while setting new clean and jerk and total world records.

The 25-year-old completed all six attempts, recording 128kg in the snatch and 163kg in the clean and jerk for a combined 291kg to finish 19kg ahead of Bahrain's Alina Marushchak.

Liao jumped out to an early advantage in the snatch, opening with 122kg before improving to 125kg and then 128kg on her final attempt. The result clinched her first gold at the competition while leaving her just one kilogram short of the world record.

The Chinese weightlifter maintained her momentum in the clean and jerk, starting with 155kg before raising the bar to 162kg on her second attempt. That bumped her combined total to 290kg and set a new world record.

Already assured of victory, Liao returned to complete one final attempt at 163kg, establishing another world mark while also pushing her total world record to 291kg.

The triumph marked Liao's third world title across three different weight classes, following previous victories at 71kg in 2023 and 81kg in 2024. Her latest total mark also topped her previous international personal best by 12kg.

Marushchak earned silver medals in all three disciplines with 123kg in the snatch, 149kg in the clean and jerk and 272kg overall.

The Dominican Republic's Yudelina Mejia Peguero took bronze in both the clean and jerk with 147kg and total with 266kg.

American Ella Nicholson collected bronze in the snatch with 120kg in her senior World Championships debut, but narrowly missed out on an overall podium finish, placing fourth with 265kg.