Mirabai’s back: Silver reaffirms weightlifter’s class at top level

The 31-year-old struggled with snatch but her clean-and- jerk prowess got her on the podium at the 2025 World C'ships

- HT Correspondent

That familiar Mirabai Chanu smile was back. One that, in the tiny Norwegian town of Forde, passed through three stages in a matter of seconds.

The first was when the 48kg competitor managed to successfully lift a 115kg bar from her shoulders to well above it. Out came a tiny affirmative in-themoment beam, even as she balanced herself and the body shivered from, literally, the weight of a World Championships medalwinning lift.

Then, as she flung the bar on the floor, that little smile turned into a glee-filled grin, even as she folded both her hands, bowed and lifted her arms.

And then, when she turned back to join her support staff looking on from the backstage, that smile, still glued to her face, blended into a sigh of relief as she looked skyward and hugged her coach Vijay Sharma.

It had been a while since that Mirabai smile was on show after a rewarding lift - at least on the world stage. It sparkled on the first day of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics with a silver medal that stamped her class.

Four years later in a different weight category, it resurfaced on the first day of the 2025 World Championships with a silver medal that reaffirmed her class.