Karlos Nasar of Bulgaria finished the men's 95 kg session at the 2026 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, China on November 4 holding the world record in the snatch, the clean and jerk and the total. His clean and jerk of 230 kg (507 pounds) closed a night in which he went six for six on the platform, and his 415 kg (915 pound) total beat the record Iran's Ali Alipour had set at the Asian Games in Nagoya by 17 kg (37 pounds). Alipour, lifting in the same session, finished third on 181, 215 and 396 kg.

The championships ran from October 27 to November 8 at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, and they opened the qualifying period for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Sixteen American lifters competed. The International Weightlifting Federation's day reports from Ningbo record three athletes who left with new world records in every lift they attempted: Nasar in the men's 95 kg class, Song Kuk Hyang of North Korea in the women's 69 kg class, and Pei Xinyi of China in the women's 61 kg class.

Nasar's 230 kg Clean and Jerk

The 95 kg men's class is one of the reconfigured bodyweight categories in use for the Los Angeles 2028 cycle, so its records are young. Alipour had set the total mark at the Asian Games in Nagoya with a 180 kg snatch and a 218 kg clean and jerk for 398 kg (877 pounds), beating Kazakhstan's Nurgissa Adiletuly, who totaled 394 kg. In Ningbo, Adiletuly raised the snatch and total records himself during the session before Nasar's final attempts moved all three marks beyond reach. Nasar's snatch of 185 kg (408 pounds) and total of 415 kg stood at the end of the night, with the 230 kg clean and jerk as the headline lift. The IWF noted that his total was 29 kg (64 pounds) more than he had needed to win the European 94 kg title in April, and that the win was his tenth straight at an international championship.

Song Kuk Hyang Beats Her Own Records

On November 3, Song Kuk Hyang improved all three of the women's 69 kg world records, and all three had been hers. Her standing records were the 121 kg snatch, 152 kg clean and jerk and 273 kg total she lifted at the Asian Games in Nagoya. In Ningbo she lifted 122 kg (269 pounds), 153 kg (337 pounds) and 275 kg (606 pounds), adding one kilogram to each individual lift and two to the total. It was her third consecutive world title. Her performance scored 1,317 points on GAMX, the IWF's cross-category scoring system, which the federation described as the best score of the championships to that point.

Pei Xinyi Goes Six for Six

Two days earlier, on November 1, Pei Xinyi led a Chinese one-two finish in the women's 61 kg class with six good lifts out of six: 112 kg (247 pounds) in the snatch, 142 kg (313 pounds) in the clean and jerk and a 254 kg (560 pound) total. According to the IWF's report, the clean and jerk record she broke had belonged to the bronze medalist, Pak Jin Hae of North Korea, and the total record had belonged to the silver medalist, her 19-year-old teammate Yang Liuyue, who had set it at the Asian Games. The federation called Pei's total the best women's result of the year.

What the Numbers Mean for a Lifter at Home

Competition weightlifting scores two lifts. In the snatch the bar travels from the floor to arms' length overhead in one movement. In the clean and jerk it is lifted to the shoulders first and then driven overhead. Each lifter gets three attempts at each lift, the best of each counts, and the total decides the medals. A record in the total can therefore fall to someone who holds neither individual record, which is why the IWF tracks all three.

For readers who train with a barbell, the scale is easiest to see as a ratio. Nasar's 230 kg clean and jerk is roughly two and a half times his bodyweight class, and Song's 153 kg is more than twice hers. Song won by 16 kg and declined her final attempt; Nasar's 230 kg came on his last, after the title was already his. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans ask adults for muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week, a small fraction of the training volume behind lifts like these.

The next stop on the LA28 qualifying calendar is the IWF qualifier in Qatar in December, where USA Weightlifting expects Olympic champion Olivia Reeves to return from a stress fracture. The federation's Road to LA28 page lists the full schedule.

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