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Moscow will host the 2030 World Weightlifting Championships, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) announced on Sunday, making it the first Olympic sports federation to award Russia the hosting rights for a major global event since the country launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ahmedabad, India, will stage the 2029 edition of the championships, the IWF confirmed in a statement. The 2030 event in Moscow will also serve as a qualifying competition for the 2032 Olympic Games.
Russian Weightlifting Federation president Aleksandr Vinokurov thanked the IWF for awarding the hosting rights, saying Russia had the experience and infrastructure to stage major international competitions.
“Moscow has repeatedly staged major international sporting
events and has modern infrastructure,” Vinokurov said in a post on Telegram.
The Russian federation described the decision as a breakthrough, saying it was the first Olympic sports federation to bring a top-level official competition back to Russia in many years.
No world championships in an Olympic sport, summer or winter, have been held in Russia since the start of the war. The 2025 World Aquatics Championships, originally awarded to Kazan, were moved to Singapore.
The IWF’s decision comes amid a shift in the international sporting landscape for Russian athletes. Restrictions were imposed following a state-sponsored doping programme identified by the World Anti-Doping Agency in connection with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and intensified after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian athletes have since competed at several international events under neutral status.
On July 7, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) eased restrictions and opened a pathway for Russian athletes to compete in qualifying events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Ukraine challenged the IOC’s decision, filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport seeking to have it annulled.
