2025 World Weightlifting Championships: North Korea dominates, Armenia finishes third

On October 11, in the Norwegian city of Førde, the 2025 World Weightlifting Championships came to an end. The overall team victory went to the delegation from the DPRK (North Korea), which topped both the men’s and women’s standings.

This was the first World Championships held under the new weight categories introduced in the summer of 2025.

Performance of the Armenian Team

The Armenian national team competed in Norway with an incomplete lineup, and overall, the team’s results were not very successful. The main issues were not so much the lack of medals or final team placement, but the large number of failed attempts — three out of six Armenian male lifters ended the competition without a total result.

Nevertheless, despite these difficulties, Armenia ranked third among men by total number of medals, behind only North Korea and China in the number of silver and bronze awards. Interestingly, the North Korean team did not win any “big” gold medals (for the total), but earned three “small” golds in individual lifts.

Armenia’s results: 1 big gold and two small golds, as well as 1 small silver and 1 small bronze.

Men’s Medal Standings at the 2025 World Championships (including small medals)

North Korea won three gold, four silver, and one bronze medal.
China also took three golds, one silver, and two bronzes.
Armenia earned three gold, one silver, and one bronze medal.
Thailand achieved three gold, one silver, and one bronze.
Uzbekistan took three golds and two bronzes.
Colombia finished with two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.
Indonesia collected two gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.
Turkey had two gold, one silver, and one bronze.
Bulgaria earned two gold and one silver.
Iran won one gold, four silver, and one bronze medal.

Women’s Competition

Among women, the DPRK demonstrated even greater dominance, winning five weight categories in the total and securing a total of fourteen gold and one silver medal.

In the women’s standings, North Korea was followed by the United States, which won three gold and four bronze medals. South Korea took three golds, Norway two gold and one silver, while the Dominican Republic and Romania each earned one gold and two silvers.

Results of Armenian Athletes

• Anna Amroyan (77 kg) — 13th place in total (230 kg), 17th in snatch (100 kg), 12th in clean & jerk (130 kg)

• Garnik Cholakyan (60 kg) — 10th in total (275 kg), 8th in snatch (123 kg), 10th in clean & jerk (152 kg)

• Gor Sahakyan (71 kg) — no total result; 2nd in snatch (154 kg), no result in clean & jerk

• Suren Grigoryan (88 kg) — no total result; 7th in snatch (160 kg), no result in clean & jerk

• Garik Karapetyan (110 kg) — 4th in total (407 kg), 3rd in snatch (186 kg), 6th in clean & jerk (220 kg)

• Simon Martirosyan (110 kg) — no result in either lift

• Varazdat Lalayan (+110 kg) — 1st in total (461 kg), 1st in snatch (211 kg), 1st in clean & jerk (250 kg)

The main hero of the Armenian team was Varazdat Lalayan, who confidently won the super-heavyweight category and brought home three gold medals.

New Records at the 2025 World Weightlifting Championships

Since the Førde championship was the first held under the new weight categories, all previous world records were annulled. To set a new world record, athletes only needed to surpass the so-called world standards — the benchmarks established by the IWF for each weight class. As a result, numerous new records were set during the competition.

Women

• Ri Song Gum (DPRK, 48 kg) — records in total (213 kg) and clean & jerk (122 kg)

• Kim Il Gyong (DPRK, 58 kg) — record in total (236 kg)

• Ri Suk (DPRK, 63 kg) — records in total (253 kg), snatch (111 kg), and clean & jerk (142 kg)

• Song Kuk Hyang (DPRK, 69 kg) — records in total (270 kg), snatch (120 kg), and clean & jerk (150 kg)

• Olivia Reeves (USA, 77 kg) — records in total (278 kg), snatch (123 kg), and clean & jerk (155 kg)

Men

• Muhammed Furkan Özbek (Turkey, 65 kg) — record in total (324 kg)

• He Yueji (China, 71 kg) — record in snatch (160 kg)

• Wiraphon Wichuma (Thailand, 71 kg) — records in total (346 kg) and clean & jerk (194 kg)

• Rizki Juniansah (Indonesia, 79 kg) — record in clean & jerk (204 kg)

• Eyison Lopez (Colombia, 88 kg) — records in total (387 kg) and snatch (177 kg)

• Ro Kwang Ryol (DPRK, 88 kg) — record in clean & jerk (215 kg)

• Alireza Moeini (Iran, 94 kg) — record in snatch (182 kg)

• Karlos Nasar (Bulgaria, 94 kg) — record in clean & jerk (222 kg)

• Akbar Djuraev (Uzbekistan, 110 kg) — records in total (428 kg) and snatch (196 kg)