2026 Junior World Weightlifting Championships Preview

Youth and Junior international events give us a glimpse into the next generation of weightlifting talent. And the 2026 Junior World Weightlifting Championships is brimming with change—Russia and China are bringing full teams. Team USA, who typically perform well, are absent entirely.

The competition runs from May 2 to 8 in Ismailia, Egypt. 

You can watch every session live on WLHOUSE TV.

All results will be on our hub page.

Here's the start book, and below are some of the competitors we're paying attention to in Ismailia.

Zeng Zailian (48, CHN)

Team China has no shortage of successful lightweight women. Zeng has never competed internationally, but leads the W48s with a 185 entry—a total that would have won the W49s last year.

Ezgi Kilic (48, TUR)

Ezgi found herself off the Senior podium at the European Championships because she totaled 169 after the bronze medalist. She'll need smarter attempt selection at Juniors, but should improve on her 7th-place finish from last year.

K Duong (60, VIE)

K has quietly dominated the Youth & Junior circuits for the last 4 years, placing 1st at 7/8 internationals, with the lone exception of last year's Junior Worlds. K added 20KG to his total the first time he jumped from 55KG to 60KG.

Prince Delos Santos (60, PHI)

Prince, despite the name, is not related to Albert Delos Santos, though they are teammates and friends. Although Prince is 30KG entry leader Duong, he has improved significantly in recent months and word on site is he's in shape for new personal bests.

Yigit Erdogan (60, TUR)

Yigit, 17, made the Senior European podium at 60KG this year with 269. One year prior, his best was 222 and he finished 14th at Junior Worlds. This year, he's positioned to make the podium.

Women's 53KG

There's a 15KG spread between the lowest and highest entrants in this category. Most athletes have clustered between 190KG and 200KG, indicating a must-watch session.

Joseline Gonzalez (58, MEX)

We noticed Joseline earlier this year when she started posting some absurd training lifts; 90 kilogram snatches and up to 124 in the clean & jerk. She skipped Pan Ams and is entered middle-of-the-pack in the 58s, but will likely snipe a podium slot in the clean & jerk at minimum.

Maria Paz Casadevall (58, ARG)

Maria Paz is the younger sister of Maria Luz Casadevall, who last week won Pan Ams in this category with 214. At Junior Worlds last year, Maria Paz made 204 and got bronze If she matches her older sister, Paz is a contender for silver or better.

Lin Jingwei (69, CHN)

The 71KG Youth World Champion from last year has dropped to 69 and leads the category with a 235KG entry total. Last year, Lin, 18, did 231KG at Youths for her international debut.

Albert Ian Delos Santos (71, PHI)

The Junior World Record holder in the clean & jerk (186KG@71) has pushed his total from 259KG to 322KG over the last three years. 328KG is the world standard. Albert needs up to 190KG in the clean & jerk to get there if he can't break 140KG in the snatch. At his last three events, he's snatched 136, 137, and 138KG.

Albert's coach, Julius Naranjo, who stewarded Hidilyn Diaz to the Philippines' first Olympic gold in Tokyo, says Albert has endured a challenging year. Albert will dedicate his Junior Worlds performance to his father, who abruptly passed in recent months.

Narek Grigoryan (71, ARM)

Narek put 24KG on his snatch and 30KG on his clean & jerk in competition between 2024 and 2025. This will be his first international appearance in the big '26. If he's added even half as much over the past year, Narek is a threat to the podium.

Hussein Hamouda (79, EGY)

Hussein is a two-time Youth World Champion at 67KG and 73KG. This is his heaviest debut yet. At last year's Junior Worlds, he hit a best of 306@73. The winning total was 324. Hussein is entered at 340 this year.

Alikhan Askerbay (88, KAZ)

Alikhan, 17, may be Kazakhstan's next big thing—if he wins here. He's got four international events under his belt; three wins and one bronze. He's also moved all the way up from 71KG to 88KG for this event.

Women's 77KG

This session is stacked. Seine Stowers (SAM), fresh off her home-turf performance at the Universal Cup; Janette Ylisoini (FIN), newly crowned European Champion; Varvara Kuzminova (RUS), who placed second to Janette with a 9KG improvement in less than a year; Anna Amroyan (ARM), who bombed in the 77s at Europeans but beat both Ylisoini and Kuzminova in the clean & jerk.

Sara Dal Bo (86, ITA)

Sara, 16, stumbled at the European Champs, bombing out in the clean & jerks. She's looking for redemption in Egypt—with the added burden of being Italy's only competitor at the event.

Men's 94KG

Goga Jajvani (GEO), Mauricio Loaiza Medina (VEN), Mohamadamin Habibi (IRI), and Hamidreza Zarei (IRI), have all entered within 5KG of each other. Then there's Aleksandr Bagaev (RUS), who has a slightly lower entry total but is the youngest athlete in the field. The medals in this category are contended by at least five athletes.

Wang Guizhou (110, CHN)

Team China hasn't put up a Junior heavyweight male in at least 10 years, but Wang, 19, leads the board with a 391KG entry. This will be his IWF debut. Wang has a few lifts circulating online; a 160KG snatch from 2024 and a 215KG in the clean & push jerk from last year.

Hu Wenxun (+86, CHN)

Hu is 15 years old. She's entered with 280KG. The winning total in the Junior Women's supers last year was 245KG. Hu has one IWF event, last October, under her belt—she made 267KG three days after her 15th birthday. 267KG would have put her 5th at Worlds '25; 280KG is a silver medal there.

Taha Nemati Moghaddam (+110, IRI)

Taha finished 2nd at Junior Worlds last year with 392. He's entered at 390 this time, but Iran has perhaps the deepest bench of any country in the Men's supers. If Taha, 20, pushes past 400, we may be seeing the first steps of Iran's next-next great super.