Team China is letting its next generation of weightlifting talent run wild at the 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships.
19-year-old Zhang Haiqin, in just her second-ever international appearance, dominated the field in the Women's 55-kilogram event on May 10.
- Zoom In: Zhang went six-for-six and set five unique Junior world records; one in the snatch, and two each in the clean & jerk and total, to win the day by a 31-kilogram margin overall.
Zhang bottled all of the qualities that make Team China so renowned — precision, consistency, and piles of raw strength.
In Jiangshan, the world's winningest team is posturing aggressively as they face stiff competition from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the dwindling days before weightlifting's current record book shuts for good.
See It Live: How to Watch the 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships
Zhang Dominates Asian Weightlifting Championships
Despite China's dominion over most weightlifting categories at the Senior level, the country hasn't gone out of its way for Youth & Junior competitions in recent years.
But at this year's Asian Weightlifting Championships, which run from May 9 to 15 on their home turf, Team China is driving their new crop hard on the platform.
In the Women's 55s, Zhang put on a clinic in what we'd consider the strongest performance of the event so far:
Zhang Haiqin (55KG) | 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships
- Snatch: 90, 95, 99 | Junior World Record
- Clean & Jerk: 115, 121, 126 | Junior World Record
- Total: 225 | Junior World Record
During the event, newcomer Zhang suffered the exhausting dignity of following herself on all six attempts.
Regardless, Zhang maintained the composure of a seasoned competitor — "She's extremely promising," remarked Weightlifting House founder and lead commentator Seb Ostrowicz as the event concluded. "Calm and confident," co-commentator Sergii Putsoff added.
Promising indeed. To put it into context, Zhang's performance at the Asian Weightlifting Championships was:
- Redemption for bombing out in the clean & jerks during her international debut at the World Championships last December
- Just one kilogram below the winning 55-kilo total from Worlds, hit by North Korea's Kang Hyong-Gong
- One kilo higher than Hidilyn Diaz' historic win at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020
- The second-highest winning total at 55 in the last six years at the Asian Champs
Zhang eclipsed competitor Chen Guan-Ling (TPE) in Jiangshan, erasing her snatch and total records in the process. Despite winning silver, Chen finished well below her international bests.
Team China has struggled to find answers for the robust and potent female weightlifters put forth by North Korea since the People's Republic returned to the sport in 2023.
- By the Numbers: Heading into the Asian Weightlifting Championships, North Korea held more Senior Women's world records than China, 14 to 11.
Moreover, Team PRK's Kang will hold the Women's 55-kilogram Senior records permanently — the sport's new weight classes take effect Jun. 1.
The upcoming Women's 58-kilogram category? A different story, if Zhang has anything to say about it.
Keep up with the action at the Asian Weightlifting Championships live on Weightlifting House TV.
