Hidilyn Diaz Wins 3 Golds at World Weightlifting Championships

From Olympian to World Champion!

Hidilyn Diaz dominated the women's 55-kilogram division at the 2022 International Weightlifting Federation’s (IWF) World Championships on Thursday (Manila time), where she bagged three golds to add to her glittering collection.

This is Diaz's first time to win at the World Championships following bronze finishes in 2015, 2017, and 2019.

The Tokyo Olympic gold medalist won against Rosalba Morales of Colombia and Ana Lopez Ferrer of Mexico in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total, with an overall lift of 207kg. She lifted 93kg in the snatch and 114kg in the clean and jerk.

Morales finished second with a total lift of 199kg, while Lopez Ferrer finished third with a total lift of 198kg.

The World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia, is part of Diaz's journey for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

"We’ve kicked off our Paris 2024 Journey with a decent start and ended our year with 3 Gold medals in the Snatch/CJ/Total, going 93/114/207," Julius Naranjo, Diaz's husband and coach, wrote on Instagram yesterday. "Not our best showing but a historical one being the First Filipina to win a World Championships."

Naranjo added that he and Diaz have accomplished a lot together, from the Philippines' first ever Olympic gold medal, getting married this 2022, and bagging their second Southeast Asian Games gold.

Diaz, in an IWF report yesterday, was quoted as saying that this will be the last time she will compete at 55kg. She will either have to move down to 49kg or 59kg for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

She added that she had to defend her business studies thesis at the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde before coming to Bogotá.

"There are times when I wish I was back in Malaysia, in another country with all the time to focus on weightlifting, training all the time. I have had negative thoughts, doubts, and I have had a lot of injuries," she was quoted as saying.

“But then I think no, I am so happy to be back in the Philippines, the country I love, and competing in weightlifting, the sport I love. I’m so grateful to the team.”