China's Liu Huanhua sets men's 102 kg world records at IWF World Cup

China's Liu Huanhua refreshed two world records and won the men's 102 kg category at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Cup on Monday. He set the clean and jerk record at 232 kg and the record for total weight at 413 kg.

He was ranked 5th with a best attempt of 181 kg in snatch, and secured the title after his second attempt in the clean and jerk with 225 kg, before he improved to the record-setting 232 kg in the third.

"I performed my best and even went beyond my training level, achieving my goal to set new world records in the clean and jerk and in total," he said. 

"China has not won an Olympic gold medal in the 100-plus-kg category. I hope that I can live up to our predecessors' attempts and become the first Chinese weightlifter to win an Olympic gold medal in this category," he added.

China won a total of seven gold medals and one silver at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, with the men's squad winning the 61 kg (Li Fabin), 67 kg (Chen Lijun), 73 kg (Shi Zhiyong), and 81 kg (Lyu Xiaojun) categories. On the women's side, Li Wenwen won the title of the highest weight level in the Chinese team at 87 kg.

They refreshed Olympic records four times in the snatch, five in clean and jerk, and six in total weights, including one total weight that was also a new world record when Shi Zhiyong lifted a total of 364 kg in the final.

The men's 102 kg category was first introduced as an official IWF event in 2018. The 23-year-old Liu first rose to fame in 2022 in the 89 kg category when he pocketed a bronze medal for the total weight. He then moved onto the 96 kg category which is not an Olympic event, before he upped the game again to go above 100 kg. He won China's first weightlifting gold medal above 100 kg in world major competitions in 26 years at the World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last year, with the previous one dating back to Cui Wenhua's win in the 108 kg category in 1997. 

The IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand, which is also a qualifying event for the Paris Summer Olympics, runs until April 11, as China registered 15 elite lifters in 10 events to warm up for the upcoming Games.