Qatar’s Olympic champion Fares Ibrahim will debut in the 94kg category at the World Weightlifting Championships in Norway as part of his buildup to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Qatar’s Olympic champion Fares Ibrahim will compete in the men’s 94kg category at the upcoming World Weightlifting Championships in Norway, the Qatar Weightlifting Federation has confirmed.

The move is part of a long-term plan to prepare the 27-year-old for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Ibrahim previously competed in the 102kg class, where he claimed both Asian and World Championship titles in 2022.

Before that, he spent four years in the 96kg division, where he won a historic gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, becoming Qatar’s first Olympic medalist in weightlifting.

The World Championships, scheduled in Volda, Norway, from October 1 to 10, will be Ibrahim’s debut in the new category. Officials say the competition will serve as a test run, since results will not count toward Olympic qualification.

“Fares Ibrahim’s participation in the World Championships 2025 represents a delicate and strategic transitional phase in the player’s career,” Qatar Weightlifting Federation’s Secretary-General, Jassim Ibrahim Al Mansouri, told the Qatar News Agency.

The change comes after the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) abolished the 102kg class as part of reforms aligned with the International Olympic Committee’s framework for the 2028 Games.

The IWF first announced new bodyweight categories in December, then adjusted them again in May, confirming the shift from 98kg to 94kg.

Ibrahim’s transition was made in consultation with his father and head coach, Ibrahim Hassoun, according to Al Mansouri.

“The decision to move to the 94 kg category was not impulsive or a mere reaction to the cancellation of the 102 kg weight class. It came after a careful technical and physical study of the weightlifter’s abilities and potential,” he said.

The 27-year-old had moved up to the 102kg class after Tokyo and continued to produce strong results, but struggled at the Paris 2024 Olympics amid lingering injury issues.

The federation now hopes a lower weight class will reinvigorate his path to another Olympic podium.

“We are counting on him not only because he is an Olympic and world champion, but also because he is a role model in determination, discipline and ambition,” Al-Mansouri said.

Ibrahim, son of three-time Olympian Ibrahim Hassoun, became a household name after clinching Qatar’s first Olympic gold medal in 2021.

His victory came just a day before Mutaz Barshim’s iconic joint high jump gold, sealing one of Qatar’s most memorable campaigns in Olympic history.