At the start of August 2026, an update to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) bodyweight categories across all levels of weightlifting competition has been introduced. For the Senior, U23 & U20 age groups, the new eight categories for men and women are as follows:
- MEN: 60kg, 65kg, 70kg, 75kg, 85kg, 95kg, 110kg, 110kg+
- WOMEN: 49kg, 53kg, 57kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg, 86kg+
For the Youth age groups, the eight categories are:
- WOMEN: 45kg, 49kg, 53kg, 57kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 77kg+
- MEN: 51kg (U15), 55kg, 60kg, 65kg, 70kg, 75kg, 85kg, 85kg+ (U15), 95kg (U17), 95kg+(U17)
In order to preserve the previous Welsh Lifting Records while aligning to the new IWF weight categories, we used a formula to convert the previous Welsh standards that were applied from June 2025. This was done by taking the previous Welsh standard, and multiplying it by the percentage change of the weight category. For example, the previous women's 48kg category moved to 49kg, therefore the existing standard in the women's 48kg was multiplied by 101.32 (the respective percentage change), and then rounded to the nearest kilogram.
For those bodyweight categories that remain unchanged from the previous revision; Men: 60 kg, 65 kg, 110 kg and +110 kg; Women: 53 kg, 69 kg, 77 kg, +77 kg (Youth), 86 kg and +86 kg, the existing Welsh Records and Welsh Standards have been retained.
Welsh records will only be accepted from Tier 1, Tier 2 and international competitions. Tier 3 results will not be accepted. All national records in the different age groups can be found below, as well as the records broken in the previous bodyweight categories (as well as historical ones).
