New Delhi: Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu finished fourth at the Paris Games in the 49kg division in Paris on Wednesday.

Chanu has been struggling with her fitness over the past ten months since she suffered a hip tendonitis injury at the Asian Games from where she had returned empty-handed. Having dealt with the recurring muscle imbalances in the current Olympics cycle, Chanu has repeatedly visited strength and conditioning expert Dr Aaron Horschig in St. Louis, USA, for corrections. On the eventful Wednesday night with history at stake, all those efforts came to fruition in the 12-woman contest.

Chanu’s total lift of 199kgs was never going to be enough in a field where four lifters — besides Chanu — had listed the entry weight of 200kgs or more. The 29-year-old, who snatched 87kgs and did a clean and jerk lift of 115kgs to take silver at the Tokyo Games with a total lift of 202 kgs, had listed the entry weight of 200kgs.

USA’s Jourdan Delacruz (200kg), Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao (200kg), Romania’s Valentina Cambei (205kg), and China’s Hou Zhihui (210kg) were always going to be tough to beat considering the Indian had only a solitary 200kg+ effort in this Olympics cycle — at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games where she had lifted 201kg (88kg+113kg) for a gold medal.

Deciding to heave 85kgs in snatch and 107kgs in clean and jerk in her opening attempt, Chanu stepped on the platform to a rousing welcome, rubbed the magnesium powder on her palms, bowed to the crowd and calmly snatched 85kgs to get her campaign off the blocks.

Her next lift, listed at 88kgs would have equalled her personal best but Chanu failed to hoist the bar despite snatching the weight with good speed. She sat on the platform in shock for a few moments before making her way back. Repeating the load in her final snatch, Chanu didn’t miss this time, equalling her personal best with clinical perfection.

US’ Delacruz couldn’t execute her 87kg and 88kg efforts and Dominican Republic’s Beatriz Piron also failed her two 88kg snatches. China’s Zhihui, who had initially listed 90 kg, reduced the entry by a kilo but unexpectedly failed to nail a clean lift. Romania’s Cambei, another lifter who had listed 90kg as her opening attempt, also brought it down by a kilo and executed to perfection. The Romanian, in sublime form, then returned to snatch 91kg and 93 kg even as the Chinese fluffed her 93kg effort.

The Romanian thus led the snatch round with 93kg, followed by China’s Zhihui (89kg). Khambao and Chanu were tied at 88kgs in the third. Chanu’s snatch was already a kilo more than what helped her fetch a silver in Tokyo and equalled her national record.

In the clean and jerk, having initially listed 107kg, Chanu added four more kilos to her weight having watched Cambei easily lift 106kg in her opening effort. Chanu’s entry was the higehst in the field, better than Zhihui and Khambao, both of whi had listed 110kg. The Indian began her first effort smoothly but fluffed the second throw. She looked at her palm in disbelief before returning for another 111kg lift. This time there was no miss as Chanu’s total lift of 199kgs placed her third at that stage, behind Cambei (203kg) and Zhuhui (199kg). Chanu and Khambao both raised the stakes to 113kgs, and the Thai’s clean lift propelled her to teh second spot (200kg), pushing the Indian to fourth place.

The Romanian stepped up to lift 112kgs to take her total to 205kgs, forcing Chanu to go for 114kg clean and jerk. The Indian’s first throw was on point, but she couldn’t complete the lift, bowing out with the total lift of 199kgs.

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