Taiwanese weightlifter Chen Guan-ling (陳冠伶) on Friday won gold medals and broke the world record in the women’s under-55kg division at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Junior Championships in Leon, Spain.
The 19-year-old lifted 98kg in the snatch and 119kg in the clean and jerk, winning gold for the snatch, clean and jerk, and combined lift, while also setting junior world records in each.
Chen’s combined lift of 217kg put her 25kg ahead of silver medalist Gelen Yulieth Torres Gomez of Colombia and was 14kg more than her own gold-winning performance at last year’s IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Saudi Arabia.
Photo courtesy of Yang Sheng-hsiung
At the IWF world championships, medals are awarded in the snatch, clean and jerk and combined total categories.
Chen is the national record holder in the women’s under-55kg category.
“My goal was to set the world record here and it will be the same in Bahrain” at the world championships, Chen said during an interview at the awards ceremony.
The IWF World Weightlifting Championships is to be held in Bahrain from Dec. 6 to 15, with Chen seeking to defend her gold medal from last year.
IWF rules group weightlifters aged 15 to 20 in junior events, while athletes aged 15 or older are allowed to participate in senior competitions.
“You will be the next Kuo,” IWF president Mohammed Jalood said, while congratulating Chen at the award ceremony.
He was referring to Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳), the first Taiwanese weightlifter to win medals at three consecutive Olympic Games with one gold and two bronzes.
Kuo has won five IWF World Championships golds.
In other categories at the Spain competition, Taiwan’s Juang Yi-ci (莊倚淇) finished fourth in the women’s under-49kg category, with a 73kg snatch, a 96kg clean and jerk, and a 166kg total, while Huang Yi-chen (黃宜甄) placed 10th in the same category, which she won last year in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In the men’s under-55kg, Tang Chun-yen (唐浚彥) finished 16th.
The IWF World Junior Championships conclude on Friday next week.
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