Ri Song Gum (Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia)
Ri Song Gum won her third straight world title for North Korea on the opening day of the IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, China. The host nation also had a winner on a day that featured two non-Olympic categories when Yang Yang outlifted two North Korean athletes in the men’s 60kg.
In what might turn out to be her final appearance in a sub-50kg category, Song Gum failed with a world record attempt at 122kg but had already done enough for victory. She made 92-119-211 to finish ahead of Zhao Jinhong from China.
Jinhong, who won world and continental titles at 45kg before moving up in weight, made a career-best 91-116-207.
When she became the first female weightlifter to win three Asian Games golds last month, Song Gum said that after Ningbo she planned to go up to 53kg in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time.
She is not entered in the IWF Qualifier in Qatar in December, which means she has about five months to gain weight before the second IWF Qualifier next March.
“With these small shoulders, I want to lift my country up,” she said at the Asian Games. “My people have high expectations of me.”
Since Song Gum made her international debut back in 2014, when she finished second at the Youth Olympic Games, she has never weighed more than 49kg. She has set 12 world records in the past three years at 48kg and 49kg.
Song Gum, 29, failed with her first and last attempts and is still waiting for her first six-from-six performance on the international stage.
Chinese Taipei won two medals. Fang Wan-Ling made all six attempts in the B Group for 80-105-185, earning clean and jerk bronze in fourth place, and Huang Yi-Chen made 82-104 from three good lifts for bronze on total. Rose Ramos from the Philippines won bronze in snatch and finished fifth overall on 86-95-181.
North Korea had a world record holder in the men’s event too, in Pang Un Chol, but he made only three good lifts and had to settle for second place again behind Yang Yang, who has thrived since moving up from 55kg.
At the Asian Games last month, Yang made all six attempts for victory on 304kg ahead of Un Chol on 301kg.
It was a similar outcome in Ningbo despite Yang missing once in snatch and once in clean and jerk on 136-168-304. He led by 6kg at halfway and Un Chol failed with his first two clean and jerk attempts. Rather than try to better his own world record in clean and jerk, Un Chol stayed on 170kg and made his third attempt for second place on 130-170-300.
North Korea took bronze too. The 22-year-old debutant Pak In Song celebrated every lift loudly and was beaming after making all three clean and jerks for gold in that discipline and bronze on total on 129-171-300.
Two Bulgarians bombed out, Angel Rusev in snatch after injuring himself on his first attempt, and Deniz Danev in clean and jerk. Gabe Chhum from the United States also failed to make a total, retiring after the snatch in the B group because of hip discomfort.
