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The International Weightlifting Federation executive board made the selection during its meeting in Ningbo China and announced the full slate of hosts for events from 2028 through 2030 according to the federation’s official statement. Ahmedabad in India will stage the 2029 senior championships while Pristina in Kosovo and Caracas in Venezuela receive the 2028 youth and junior editions respectively a first for each of those nations in hosting IWF world events. IWF general secretary Jose Quinones said all bids received were excellent and the organisation was confident the championships would prove a huge success a remark reported across outlets including the Straits Times and Sportstar.
The Russian Weightlifting Federation hailed the award as a milestone claiming it as the first Olympic sports federation to bring a top-level official competition back to the country in many years according to its own announcement. Federation president Aleksandr Vinokurov thanked the IWF for its trust in a Telegram post and noted that the 2030 event will also serve as a qualifying competition for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane. “Russia has all the necessary experience and capabilities to host competitions of the highest level” Vinokurov said adding that Moscow has repeatedly staged major international sporting events with modern infrastructure.
Moscow last hosted the weightlifting world championships in 1983 with earlier men’s editions in 1975 and 1980 according to IWF historical records. The city has not held the combined senior event since the men’s and women’s competitions merged in 1997. No world championships in an Olympic sport have been staged in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 with the 2025 aquatics worlds relocated from Kazan to Singapore a move confirmed by multiple international federations.
The hosting decision follows the IWF’s restoration of full eligibility for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags and anthems in June 2026 according to the federation’s own announcements. That step came one month after the International Olympic Committee provisionally lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee in July potentially clearing a path for Russian participation at the 2028 Los Angeles Games an IOC assessment found. A report from the Kyiv Post described the Moscow award as a significant step in Russia’s return to international sports hosting.
Sweden’s weightlifting federation chairwoman Helene Johage expressed dismay at the news telling the Sweden Herald that she found it extremely worrying because the war in Ukraine has not ended. “I usually quote the old Olympic slogan ‘During the Olympics all wars end’ but that’s not how things work in the world anymore” Johage said noting the presence of active-duty Ukrainian troops on the battlefield. The Swedish federation had declined an offer to host European championships due to the inclusion of Russian athletes she added highlighting potential difficulties for competitors required to travel to Moscow in 2030.
The IWF chose to award the four championships together in order to consolidate its international calendar for the years ahead according to Quinones’ comments carried by Meduza and other regional outlets. The selections underscore the sport’s global growth with new host nations entering the rotation while the Russian federation maintained that the country stands ready to deliver events of the highest standard. The 2030 championships in Moscow will mark the first senior worlds there in the combined format since the structural change more than two decades ago.
