IWF World Weightlifting Championships

The IWF World Weightlifting Championships is the sport’s flagship event with the first edition being held in London in 1891.

Athletes now compete in a total of 20 weight categories - 10 for men and 10 for women - with the most recent World Championships taking place in Pattaya in 2019.

China topped the medal table in Turkmenistan's capital with seven overall golds and the country also heads the all-time standings.

Although held annually, the Olympic weightlifting competitions are classed as the World Championships every four years.

Individual World Championships were held for women from 1987 to 1990, but since 1991, the men’s and women’s World Championships have been staged side-by-side.

Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev, the late Soviet super heavyweight lifter, who competed at three Olympic Games from 1972 to 1980, holds the record for the number of World Championship gold medals with eight.

IWF Junior World Championships

The first men’s IWF Junior World Championships was held in Marseille, France, in 1975.

Twenty years later, the inaugural women’s edition took place alongside the 21st men’s event in Warsaw, Poland.

In 2018, the combined World Championships were held in Tashkent.

Hosts Uzbekistan topped the medal table with three overall golds.

FISU World University Championships

Weightlifting entered the programme of the biennial International University Sports Federation (FISU) World University Championships in 2008, with the first edition held in Komotini, Greece.

A further five editions have since taken place, the most recent of which came in 2018 in Biała Podlaska, Poland.

IWF Youth World Championships

The IWF Youth World Championships were first hosted by Chiang Mai in Thailand in 2009 and served as the main qualification event for the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010.

Held for lifters aged up to 17 years, a further six editions have since taken place, the latest being in 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand.