Moscow to Host 2030 World Weightlifting Championships, IWF Says

Moscow will host the 2030 World Weightlifting Championships, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) announced on Sunday.

No world championships in an Olympic sport, summer or winter, have been held in Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. The 2025 World Aquatics Championships, originally awarded to the Russian city of Kazan, were later moved to Singapore.

“Concerning the IWF Senior World Championships, Ahmedabad (India) will host the 2029 edition and Moscow (Russia) will host the 2030 edition,” the IWF said in a statement.

It will be the first time since 1983 that Moscow has hosted the World Weightlifting Championships. 

“All the bids we received were excellent and we are sure that the Championships in your respective countries will be a huge success,” said IWF General Secretary Jose Quinones.

Russian and Belarusian weightlifters have been eligible to compete in IWF events since the International Olympic Committee provisionally lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee in July, a step seen as advancing Russia's gradual return to international sport.

The IOC Executive Board, when it lifted the suspension, said athletes should not be held responsible for the actions of their governments. No decision has yet been taken on whether Russian athletes will compete under their national flag, colors and anthem at the Olympic Games.

The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the IOC's decision.

The ROC was suspended in October 2023 after recognizing regional Olympic councils in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia's return to international competition also comes against the backdrop of one of the biggest doping scandals in Olympic sport.

The country has been under scrutiny since a 2015 World Anti-Doping Agency-commissioned report found evidence of systematic doping in Russian athletics, while subsequent investigations uncovered a state-backed cover-up linked to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

The IOC said all Russian athletes now returning to international competition would have to ⁠meet relevant anti-doping ​requirements.

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