As she flipped some omelettes for the trainees at her basecamp, a wave of nostalgia washed over Mirabai Chanu. From the time she was their age, Mirabai said looking at the 13 and 14-year-olds, pain had been her constant companion. Only companion, many times.
Mirabai wasn’t just talking about the physical struggles, which have been many. The 31-year-old’s team, led by coach Vijay Sharma has somehow kept her fragile body, broken and torn at various joints and tissues, together. That morning, she was reflecting on the deep, lingering psychological pain her previous two appearances on the big stage had left.
Last year, Mirabai travelled to Paris with the hope of securing a second successive podium finish. It ended in a cruel fourth place, a result of her spending as much time — if not more — in an orthopaedic clinic getting herself fixed as she did training. That was a result of an injury that aggravated at the Asian Games the year before, in 2023, which resulted in another brutal fourth-place finish.
On Thursday, she overcame the twin heartbreaks to return to the international podium. Mirabai lifted a total of 199kg (84 in snatch and 115 in clean and jerk) to win her third World Championship medal, a silver, in the Norwegian city of Forde. It was the same total she lifted in Paris last year but in a heavily-stacked field, wasn’t enough for a medal.
Phenomenal lift by @mirabai_chanu to win a silver medal at the #WorldChampionships. Mirabai, 48kg, lifts iron more than twice her body weight to win a third World Championships medal – and second silver. pic.twitter.com/Q20Bvdw9zR
— Mihir Vasavda (@mihirsv) October 2, 2025
The gold went to North Korea’s Ri Song Gum, who was in a league of her own and tallied a total of 213 kg (91 in snatch and 122 in clean and jerk). The competition for silver and bronze was a two-way race between Mirabai and Thanyathon, given that the Olympic champion from China, Hou Zhihui, wasn’t competing in Norway.
Thanyathon had a 4kg advantage over Mirabai after the snatch second. But the Indian lifter pulled off a phenomenal lift in her final clean and jerk attempt. Mirabai needed a successful lift of 115kg to pip Thanyathon by 1kg for the silver.
The last time Mirabai lifted 115 kg in an international competition was four years ago at the Tokyo Olympics. It fetched her a silver medal back then. In the four years that followed, a lot had changed and injuries and surgeries meant Mirabai wasn’t the same lifter she was at the Tokyo Games.
Mirabai’s scream echoed in a half-empty arena as she squatted with iron more than twice her bodyweight resting on her shoulder. Mirabai growled and winced as she came up and lunged forward. Summoning all her strength, she lifted the weight over her head and the moment three white dots appeared on the screen — signalling a clean lift — she flashed that infectious smile of hers.
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Silver medal secured, she jogged from the platform to the tunnel and embraced her coach, Vijay Sharma.
This was only the second international competition for Mirabai after the Paris Olympics last year in August. It has been her longest break but Sharma had said before leaving for the Worlds that it was needed to ensure her body healed. “It is important to give rest to the body. For a long period, she was doing high-intensity training for the Olympics so that rest was important,” Sharma had said.
The duo left for Norway with a target of lifting 200kg, which Sharma knew would land her on the podium. And though they fell short of their target by 1kg, a medal was secured nevertheless.
However, the silver looked out of reach at the midway stage after the snatch event. Like the Commonwealth Championship in August, Mirabai managed just one legitimate attempt in the snatch section. She looked comfortable during her first lift of 84kg, Mirabai could not execute the second pull — to elevate the barbell using legs and hips from the mid-thigh position to a fully extended position — with her remaining two snatch lifts.
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She was left with a lot of ground to cover in the clean and jerk, her favoured segment. A former clean and jerk world record holder, Mirabai did not miss even a single attempt as she clawed her way back into silver medal position. When Thanyathon, who managed a best of 110kg, could not lift 113kg, it opened the door for Mirabai.
Yet, Mirabai had to do something she couldn’t do in four years — lift 115kg. Defying odds, she did. And in doing so, Mirabai showed that all the years of pain and heartbreak hadn’t taken away her inherent virtue — the stomach for a fight.