Following the recent announcement of new bodyweight (BW) categories to take effect on June, 1st – 2025. The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has advised that Member Federations may conduct events in the new categories from January, 1st – 2025 onwards.

In light of the above, the Weightlifting Ireland (WI) Board of Directors has endorsed the recommendation of the WI Competition Director to adopt the new bodyweight categories from January, 1st – 2025 for all WI competitions (Club, Provincial & National).

The WI Competitions Team is calculating new qualification standards and new record standards for the new bodyweight categories. These will be provided and published on the WI website as soon as possible. An update to the WI Technical/Competition Rules & Regulations (TCRR) will also be published as soon as possible to reflect these new BW categories.

Event Qualification:

  • If an athlete has achieved a total that currently falls within the qualification period for any WI or international event, these athletes will be allocated into the corresponding new BW category. This will be done based on their actual competition bodyweight that is linked to their result on the WI rankings.
  • If an athlete has been reallocated into a new BW category, but has failed to meet the QF standard in that new BW category, they must requalify before the qualification period ends.

For the Master, Senior, U23 & Junior age groups, the eight categories for men and women are as follows:

  • MEN: 60kg, 65kg, 71kg, 79kg, 88kg, 98kg, 110kg, 110kg+
  • WOMEN: 48kg, 53kg, 58kg, 63kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg, 86kg+

For the Youth age group, the eight categories are:

  • WOMEN: 44kg, 48kg, 53kg, 58kg, 63kg, 69kg, 77kg, 77kg+
  • MEN: 56kg, 60kg, 65kg, 71kg, 79kg, 88kg, 98kg, 98kg+