Dominant Deng's heavy hat-trick

Deng Wei swept three gold medals with a hat-trick of world records at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Cup in her native Fujian province on Monday.

The 26-year-old reigning Olympic champion continued her dominance of the women's 64kg division, breaking records in the snatch, clean and jerk and total to better the all-time marks she set at November's world championships in Turkmenistan.

Deng hoisted 108kg on her first attempt in the snatch and sealed the victory after the rest of the field was finished.

Her second lift - 113kg - added a kilo to the world record.

Deng was also the last one to lift in the clean and jerk. Her first attempt at 135kg helped her claim gold before she again improved the world record by a kilo.

In the total, she added two kilos to the world record (254kg).

Deng told Xinhua she had to overcome nerves performing in front of her home crowd.

"I could feel the pressure when I saw the fans here. My first snatch attempt did not go perfectly, though it set the record," Deng said.

"It is actually not difficult for me to make good lifts with the current weights, and I believe I can improve at the next world event."

Her history suggests she can make good on that prediction.

Deng was crowned champion of the 63kg division at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, with much better results in the snatch (115kg), clean and jerk (147kg) and total (262kg).

She switched to the 64kg weight class after the IWF last year revised the divisional parameters for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and she is expected to continue her record-breaking feats.

China's weightlifters have broken seven world records at the Fuzhou event. On Saturday, Hou Zhihui won the women's 49kg, setting records in the snatch and the total.

On Sunday, Chen Guiming and Li Dayin established world records in the women's 59kg clean and jerk and the men's 81kg total, respectively.

Xinhua