The World Weightlifting Championships is an international weightlifting competition, currently held annually (except for years of the Summer Olympic Games) by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). The predecessor organization of the IWF was founded in 1905, but World Championship events began before its foundation. The first recognized World Championship event was held in 1891, and was won by Edward Lawrence Levy of England.

Athletes today compete in a total of 16 weight categories (8 for men and 8 for women):

Men categories: 60 kg, 65 kg, 71 kg, 79 kg, 88 kg, 94 kg, 110 kg and +110 kg. Women categories: 48 kg, 53 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 77 kg, 86 kg and +86 kg.

Competitions Men No.YearDatesCity and host country# Athletes# Countries I 1891 28 March London, United Kingdom 7 6 II 1898 31 July – 1 August Vienna, Austria 11 3 III 1899 4–5 April Milan, Italy 5 3 IV 1903 1–3 October Paris, France 18 5 V 1904 18 April Vienna, Austria 13 4 VI 1905 8–10 April Berlin, Germany 41 4 VII 1905 11–13 June Duisburg, Germany 7 2 VIII 1905 16 & 30 December Paris, France 16 1 IX 1906 18 March Lille, France 33 4 X 1907 19 May Frankfurt, Germany 23 3 XI 1908 8–9 December Vienna, Austria 23 2 XII 1909 3 October & 2 December Vienna, Austria 23 3 XIII 1910 4–6 June Düsseldorf, Germany 57 5 XIV 1910 9–10 October Vienna, Austria 15 2 XV 1911 29–30 April Stuttgart, Germany 36 3 XVI 1911 13–14 May Berlin, Germany 27 2 XVII 1911 26 June Dresden, Germany 21 3 XVIII 1911 29 June – 2 July Vienna, Austria 32 3 XIX 1913 28–29 July Breslau, Germany 40 4 XX 1920 4–8 September Vienna, Austria 74 4 XXI 1922 29–30 April Tallinn, Estonia 33 4 XXII 1923 8–9 September Vienna, Austria 76 7 XXIII 1937 10–12 September Paris, France 50 10 XXIV 1938 21–23 October Vienna, Germany 38 11 XXV 1946 18–19 October Paris, France 79 13 XXVI 1947 26–27 September Philadelphia, United States 39 12 XXVII 1949 4–6 September Scheveningen, Netherlands 38 13 XXVIII 1950 13–15 October Paris, France 56 17 XXIX 1951 26–28 October Milan, Italy 62 14 XXX 1953 26–30 August Stockholm, Sweden 70 19 XXXI 1954 7–10 October Vienna, Austria 100 23 XXXII 1955 12–16 October Munich, West Germany 108 25 XXXIII 1957 8–12 November Tehran, Iran 76 21 XXXIV 1958 16–21 September Stockholm, Sweden 96 27 XXXV 1959 29 September – 4 October Warsaw, Poland 85 19 XXXVI 1961 20–25 September Vienna, Austria 120 33 XXXVII 1962 16–22 September Budapest, Hungary 113 27 XXXVIII 1963 16–22 September Stockholm, Sweden 134 32 XXXIX 1964 11–18 October Tokyo, Japan 149 42 XL 1965 27 October – 3 November Tehran, Iran 85 24 XLI 1966 15–21 October East Berlin, East Germany 117 28 XLII 1968 13–19 October Mexico City, Mexico 160 55 XLIII 1969 20–28 September Warsaw, Poland 166 37 XLIV 1970 12–20 September Columbus, United States 129 28 XLV 1971 18–26 September Lima, Peru 144 30 XLVI 1972 27 August – 6 September Munich, West Germany 188 54 XLVII 1973 15–23 September Havana, Cuba 189 39 XLVIII 1974 21–29 September Manila, Philippines 143 32 XLIX 1975 15–23 September Moscow, Soviet Union 169 33 L 1976 18–27 July Montreal, Canada 173 46 LI 1977 17–25 September Stuttgart, West Germany 186 44 LII 1978 4–8 October Gettysburg, United States 185 35 LIII 1979 3–11 November Thessaloniki, Greece 189 39 LIV 1980 20–30 July Moscow, Soviet Union 173 40 LV 1981 13–20 September Lille, France 194 35 LVI 1982 18–26 September Ljubljana, Yugoslavia 205 38 LVII 1983 22–31 October Moscow, Soviet Union 187 32 LVIII 1984 29 July – 8 August Los Angeles, United States 187 48 LIX 1985 23 August – 1 September Södertälje, Sweden 195 38 LX 1986 8–15 November Sofia, Bulgaria 193 41 LXI 1987 6–13 September Ostrava, Czechoslovakia 168 29 LXII 1989 16–23 September Piraeus, Greece 220 37 LXIII 1990 10–18 November Budapest, Hungary 182 38

The weightlifting tournaments held during Summer Olympics in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984 are counted as World Weightlifting Championships of the corresponding year.

Women No.YearDatesCity and host country# Athletes# Countries I 1987 30 October – 1 November Daytona Beach, United States 100 22 II 1988 2–4 December Jakarta, Indonesia 103 23 III 1989 24–26 November Manchester, United Kingdom 133 25 IV 1990 26 May – 3 June Sarajevo, Yugoslavia 109 25

Combined No.YearDatesCity and host countryMenWomenMW# Athletes# Countries# Athletes# Countries LXIV V 1991 27 September – 6 October Donaueschingen, Germany 200 40 108 24 — VI 1992 16–24 May Varna, Bulgaria — — 110 25 LXV VII 1993 11–21 November Melbourne, Australia 195 57 94 25 LXVI VIII 1994 17–27 November Istanbul, Turkey 242 52 105 30 LXVII IX 1995 16–26 November Guangzhou, China 345 63 93 26 — X 1996 3–11 May Warsaw, Poland — — 102 24 LXVIII XI 1997 6–14 December Chiang Mai, Thailand 189 51 143 39 LXIX XII 1998 10–15 November Lahti, Finland 210 53 122 35 LXX XIII 1999 21–28 November Piraeus, Greece 395 79 231 51 LXXI XIV 2001 4–11 November Antalya, Turkey 153 47 114 34 LXXII XV 2002 18–26 November Warsaw, Poland 170 47 115 37 LXXIII XVI 2003 14–22 November Vancouver, Canada 297 59 208 47 LXXIV XVII 2005 9–17 November Doha, Qatar 169 58 112 42 LXXV XVIII 2006 30 September – 7 October Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 298 58 186 39 LXXVI XIX 2007 17–26 September Chiang Mai, Thailand 355 70 225 53 LXXVII XX 2009 20–29 November Goyang, South Korea 196 57 133 38 LXXVIII XXI 2010 17–26 September Antalya, Turkey 312 63 203 50 LXXIX XXII 2011 5–13 November Paris, France 307 75 212 61 LXXX XXIII 2013 20–27 October Wrocław, Poland 168 49 124 37 LXXXI XXIV 2014 8–16 November Almaty, Kazakhstan 307 62 219 51 LXXXII XXV 2015 20–28 November Houston, United States 324 76 261 72 LXXXIII XXVI 2017 28 November – 5 December Anaheim, United States 176 54 139 44 LXXXIV XXVII 2018 1–10 November Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 272 68 310 73 LXXXV XXVIII 2019 18–27 September Pattaya, Thailand 313 84 275 79 LXXXVI XXIX 2021 7–17 December Tashkent, Uzbekistan 235 64 179 54 LXXXVII XXX 2022 5–16 December Bogotá, Colombia 267 79 270 76 LXXXVIII XXXI 2023 4–17 September Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 365 105 354 94 LXXXIX XXXII 2024 4–14 December Manama, Bahrain 245 76 226 75 XC XXXIII 2025 1–10 October Førde, Norway XCI XXXIV 2026 Ningbo, China XCII XXXV 2027 Yerevan, Armenia XCIII XXXVI 2028 Caracas, Venezuela

All-time medal table

Total All-time big (total) medal count below updated after the 2025 World Weightlifting Championships.

Big and small medals All-time big (total) and small (snatch, clean & jerk, and press) medal count below updated after the 2025 World Weightlifting Championships.

Names in italic are national entities that no longer exist.

Multiple medalists The table shows those who have won at least 5 gold medals in total result. Boldface denotes active weightlifters and highest medal count among all weightlifters (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Rank Weightlifter Country Gender Weights From To Gold Silver BronzeTotal 1 Vasily Alekseyev M +110 kg 1970 1977 8 – – 8 2 Naim (Naum) Süleymanoğlu(Suleymanov, Shalamanov) M 56 kg / 60 kg / 64 kg 1983 1995 7 1 – 8 Yurik Vardanyan M 75 kg / 82.5 kg / 90 kg 1977 1985 7 1 – 8 4 Lasha Talakhadze M +105 kg / +109 kg 2015 2023 7 – – 7 5 Josef Grafl Austria M Open / +80 kg 1904 1913 6 2 – 8 6 Tommy Kono M 75 kg / 82.5 kg 1953 1962 6 1 1 8 7 John Davis M 82.5 kg / +82.5 kg / +90 kg 1938 1953 6 1 – 7 8 Yoshinobu Miyake M 56 kg / 60 kg 1961 1968 6 – 1 7 David Rigert M 82.5 kg / 90 kg / 100 kg 1970 1978 6 – 1 7 10 Waldemar Baszanowski M 67.5 kg / 75 kg 1961 1971 5 5 – 10 11 Arkady Vorobyov M 82.5 kg / 90 kg 1950 1961 5 2 1 8 12 Pete George M 67.5 kg / 75 kg 1947 1955 5 2 – 7 Halil Mutlu M 54 kg / 56 kg / 62 kg 1993 2003 5 2 – 7 Yanko Rusev M 60 kg / 67.5 kg / 75 kg 1977 1983 5 2 – 7 15 Mohammad Nassiri M 56 kg / 52 kg 1966 1976 5 1 3 9 16 Kuo Hsing-chun F 58 kg / 59 kg 2013 2025 5 1 2 8 17 Chen Lijun M 62 kg / 67 kg 2013 2023 5 1 – 6 Viktor Kurentsov M 75 kg 1964 1970 5 1 – 6 Lü Xiaojun M 77 kg / 81 kg 2009 2019 5 1 – 6 20 Anatoly Khrapaty M 90 kg / 91 kg / 99 kg 1985 1995 5 – 2 7 Stanley Stanczyk M 67.5 kg / 75 kg / 82.5 kg 1946 1954 5 – 2 7 22 Vladimir Stogov M 56 kg 1955 1962 5 – 1 6 23 Deng Wei F 58 kg / 63 kg / 64 kg 2010 2019 5 – – 5 Om Yun-chol M 56 kg / 55 kg 2013 2019 5 – – 5

See also Weightlifting at the Summer Olympics List of World Championships medalists in weightlifting (men) List of World Championships medalists in weightlifting (women) Youth World Weightlifting Championships Junior World Weightlifting Championships

Notes

References

External links International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Weightlifting World Championships Seniors Statistics Database IWRP