Team China has been in "crisis" since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea barged back into the international weightlifting scene in 2023.
On the first day of the 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships (May 9-15) on their home turf in Jiangshan, China retook some territory in the record books for good.
- How It Happened: Zhao Jinhong (45KG) set a new world record in the snatch, which North Korea's Won Hyon-Sim had held for the last year.
Zhao won the lightest Women's category by a stellar 29-kilogram margin and guaranteed her name will stay in the record books for good.
Tune In: How to Watch the 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships
The First and the Last: 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships
For the best weightlifters in the region, the Asian Weightlifting Championships this year represents the final opportunity to get into the record books.
As such, we expected fireworks on all six days of competition. Zhao lived up to expectations:
- Snatch: 80, 88, 90 | World Record
- Clean & Jerk: 100, 111x, 111x
- Total: 190
Weightlifting House commentators Seb Ostrowicz and Sergeii Putsoff called Zhao's snatch technique "stunning and perfect." The 45-kilogram snatch silver medalist, Hong Zi Yu (TPE), hit 73.
Zhao seemed in top form, opting to jump from 100 to 111 on her second clean & jerk attempt to push her own total record a bit higher. She was winded by the bar twice in a row, going one-for-three.
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The stakes are high at this year's Asian Weightlifting Championships: Team China has enjoyed a mostly uncontested lordship over Women's weightlifting for the last decade.
But just a few months after North Korea returned from their 4-year international hiatus, China began losing real estate in the record books.
- By the Numbers: Three months after their comeback in 2023, Team PRK had sniped 8 out of the 12 world records in the lighter half of the Women's categories. Heading into Asians this year, North Korea owned 14 Senior Women's world records; China had 11.
The world records in the 45-kilogram category will become frozen in time when the International Weightlifting Federation revamps its weight classes on Jun. 1, 2025. When the new 48-kilogram class is officially minted, we expect Zhao to contend with teammates Hou Zhihui and Jiang Huihua, who have been relatively silent since the 2024 Olympics wrapped last summer.
Until then, China seems dead set on ensuring they're the majority stakeholder in Women's world records when the door closes.
They've got six days to make their bids and set the tone for the upcoming Olympic quad.
See it all live at the Asian Weightlifting Championships on Weightlifting House TV.
