Jeremy Lalrinnunga wins gold to extend India’s weightlifting medal streak at Commonwealth Games 2022, sets Games record

Jeremy Lalrinnunga clinched the second gold medal for India at the Commonwealth Games 2022 by setting a CWG record in the men’s 67kg weightlifting final.

Jeremy, 19, lifted 136kg in his first snatch effort and bettered it by successfully attempting 140kgs in his next try. He then coupled it with a bonkers lift of 160kg in the Clean & Jerk category to finish with 300kg – which is a CWG record – and brought India its fifth medal of CWG 2022.

Jeremy’s third attempt was unsuccessful but it did not matter as he entered the Clean & Jerk way ahead on top. In the second part of the event, Jeremy lifted a herculean 154kgs in his first, but increased the heartbeat of a billion Indians by injuring himself.

Despite pulling off the first lift successfully, Jeremy looked in discomfort as he hobbled back inside. Fortunately, he came back and nailed the 160kg effort, which eventually won him the medal. He tried for a 165kg lift in his third attempt but could not.

The clean was good but while trying to lift the barbell above, Jeremy fell down in pain. Samoa’s Vaipova, who had shot back to a silver medal contention, needed a monstrous lift of 174kg to take gold. But he failed, which meant that the Indian National Anthem was now certain to resonate the arena for the second time at CWG 2022.

Jeremy shot into national reckoning when he became the first of three Indian athletes to win gold medals at the 2018 Youth Olympics with a total lift of 274kg. He was just 16 years old at the time and he entered the weightlifting World Championships the next year, finishing with a ranking of 21 in the men’s 67kg event.

Jeremy’s first, and thus far only senior international title, came in the form of the 2021 Commonwealth Championships in Tashkent. He lifted an impressive total of 305kg (141kg and 164kg) to win top honours at the Commonwealth meet. Lalrinnunga was just 1kg shy to improve his personal best which stands at a national record of 306kg (140kg, 166kg).

His snatch effort of 141kg was a new national record and he already held the clean and jerk record of 167kg as well. He lifted a total of 305kg in the 67kg event, thus winning the gold medal ahead of Nigeria’s Joseph Edidiong.

The 19-year-old struggled has been struggling with back and knee injuries since the December 2021 event and was out of action for much of the competitions after that. That gold medal in Tashkent, however, was enough for him to confirm qualification to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Jeremy holds the three National Records – snatch 141kg, clean and jerk 167kg, total 306kg – in 67kg. He has been training in Birmingham for over a month now and has insisted before that his injuries are behind him.