Mirabai Chanu defies injury to lift World Championships silver

Mirabai Chanu overcame a dodgy left wrist to win a silver at the weightlifting World Championships in Bogota, Colombia, on Wednesday. Competing in her maiden international tournament since her gold medal-winning effort at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG) earlier this year, Chanu lifted 200 kgs (113 kg in clean and jerk and 87 kg in snatch) in the 49kg division to take her second World Championships medal following a gold in the 2017 edition. She had finished fourth in the 2019 Worlds and skipped the 2021 edition.

China's Jiang Huihua won her third world championships gold with a combined lift of 206 kg (93kg+113kg), while compatriot Hou Zhihui, who won gold at last year's Tokyo Olympics with a Games record lift of 210 kg, won bronze with an effort of 198kg (89kg+109kg).

Chanu, a silver medallist at Tokyo Games, had injured her wrist in training after the CWG. She decided to skip the Asian Championships in October before making an appearance at the National Games where she lifted 191kg to win gold. She then worked with strength and conditioning expert Dr. Aaron Horschig in St Louis, USA — her second such stint with Horschig since CWG — to rehabilitate and prepare for the Worlds.

Chanu began her competition with an 85kg lift in the snatch. She added two more kilos for her next attempt but it was deemed a "no lift". Chanu went with the same weight (87kg) in her final attempt and struggled for balance, but somehow recovered to complete the lift. Her personal best — and national record — in snatch remains 88kg which she lifted at this year's CWG.

"It's a testament to her attitude," national coach Vijay Sharma said. "She knew her medal chances would vanish if she fails her third attempt and so she was determined to complete the lift."

The effort placed her fifth in the 11-woman field on the snatch leaderboard.

A world record holder in clean and jerk (119kg), Chanu began the round with a relatively modest 111 kg, but a wobbly left elbow meant the lift was disallowed. The Indian camp objected, but the ruling stood. But she recovered her composure and proceeded to lift 111 kg and 113 kg in her next two tries to secure silver medals in the snatch, clean and jerk, and overall lift.

"Her left wrist was troubling her. The injury has healed but proper rehabilitation needs time. Dr. Horschig has worked really hard on her to ensure her rehab and strengthening remain on track. We'll follow his targeted strengthening programme for four weeks for complete results," Sharma said.

"I am satisfied with her performance. We had decided not to push beyond 200 kgs as there are enough Olympics qualifying events coming up, so no point risking an injury now," he added.

The ongoing event is the first of the six qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics, although it's only an additional event and not a compulsory one. Under the qualification rule for Paris Games, a lifter has to mandatorily compete at the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 World Cup.

"Our main purpose to compete here was to get her in some competitive rhythm. She hasn't had an international competition since CWG, so we wanted her to get that experience. We were working on some minor tweaks in her snatch technique but that went off rails due to her wrist injury. We'll resume that process once her rehab is complete," the coach said.

Dr Horschig too was impressed, albeit not surprised with the way Chanu completed her final snatch. Horschig had worked on Chanu's stability using what he calls a bamboo bar press. The drill has Chanu in a stationery squat position and lifting a bamboo stick fitted with hanging weights on either side. The hanging weights create instability as the arms go overhead, testing the lifter's balance.

"Her final snatch lift at Worlds was a little off in the reception and you can see she jumps forward a bit on the catch. However, instead of losing the lift, she has been training hard to become more stable under the bar. The bamboo bar press trains balance, core, and shoulder stability like crazy," Horschig said.

Speaking about the 28-year-old's wrist issue, Horschig noted that the injury was "fairly serious" — bad enough to cause unbearable pain even when lifting an empty barbell.

"The injury troubled her mainly during the snatch lift. It has been a difficult rehabilitation as sometimes the wrist hurt so bad that even lifting the empty barbell was painful. Specifically, this wrist issue was not a mobility problem but one of stability. The goal with many of the exercises I prescribed was to help strengthen the small muscles surrounding the wrist and thumb so that she could better support the joint. We are still working on her rehab," Horschig explained.

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