Nigeria’s powerlifting icon, Folashade Oluwafemiayo, has as soon as once more etched her identify in historical past, setting a brand new world file of 168kg within the ladies’s over 86kg class on the ongoing World Para Powerlifting Championships in Cairo, Egypt.
The 40-year-old lifted past her personal earlier world file of 167kg, a mark she set on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, to clinch yet one more gold medal for Nigeria. With the feat, she prolonged her dominance as a four-time world champion and two-time Paralympic gold medallist.
Her carry — greater than another lady has ever achieved within the class — drew loud applause contained in the Cairo Worldwide Stadium on Thursday night, confirming Oluwafemiayo’s place as one of many biggest para powerlifters in historical past.
China’s Zhu claimed the silver medal, whereas Rozbahani of Iran took bronze.
NEW WORLD RECORD! 💥
Folashade Oluwafemiayo 🇳🇬 lifts 168kg to interrupt her personal file within the ladies’s over 86kg! 🏋️♀️🔥
Now a 4-time world & 2-time Paralympic champion — her newest Paralympic gold got here in Paris 2024. 🥇
🥈 Zhu 🇨🇳
🥉 Rozbahani 🇮🇷#Cairo2025 #ParaPowerlifting pic.twitter.com/zLDMMOnqqP— Para Powerlifting (@Powerlifting) October 16, 2025
The newest file continues a golden run for Nigeria on the Cairo Championships, the place the nation’s para powerlifters have displayed distinctive energy and consistency because the opening day of competitors.
Earlier, Esther Onyeama introduced a spectacular return to type, successful two gold medals within the ladies’s 55kg class — her first world titles in 11 years.
Onyeama’s efficiency, together with Oluwafemiayo’s triumph, underscores Nigeria’s continued dominance in international para powerlifting.
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The championship, being held in Africa for the primary time, has seen the Nigerian contingent emerge as one of many standout groups, difficult conventional powerhouses like Egypt and China.
Because the championship continues, expectations stay excessive that the nation’s athletes will additional consolidate their place among the many world’s elite in para powerlifting.
