Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu won silver at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships in Bogota, Colombia. Mirabai lifted a total of 200kg (87 kg snatch + 113 kg clean & jerk), 2kg more than Olympic champion Hou Zhihua (198kg) and 6kg less than gold medalist Jiang Huihua (206kg: 93+113).
China’s Hou Zhihui won bronze with 198 points (89kg plus 109 kg).
Mirabai’s wrist injury was revealed when she struggled with the overhead lift in her second clean-and-jerk attempt, but she recovered quickly to finish with the best lift of 113 kg. In the snatch event, she had the best attempt of 87kg. Mirabai won silver in the clean and jerk category with her 113 kg effort.
Mirabai’s second Worlds medal, having previously won gold with a lift of 194 kg at the 2017 World Championships (85kg plus 109 kg). In the 2019 edition, she finished fourth.
Olympic champion Hou appeared to be struggling on the day, lifting significantly less than her personal bests of 96 kg snatch and 118 kg clean and jerk (Mirabai holds the world record in that, at 119 kg).
A lifter must compete in two mandatory events, the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 World Cup, according to the Paris Olympics qualifying system. The 2022 World Championships are the first qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be reduced from 14 to 10 from the Tokyo Games.