World record-holding Paiwan strongman bags 3 weightlifting medals

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) Taiwanese powerlifter Yang Sen (楊森) won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal in the men's under 120 kilogram weight class Saturday at the 2025 IPF World Open Equipped Powerlifting Championships in Romania.

Yang, who is of Indigenous Paiwan descent, won his gold in the bench press with a final lift of 340 kg, five kilos more than the overall champion in the weight class, Ukraine's Oleksiy Bychkov.

In his first two attempts in the category, the Taiwanese powerlifter successfully cleared weights of 320 kg and 332.5 kg, but had to go higher to beat out Bychkov, who cleared 335 kg on his final attempt.

Yang took silver in what typically is his best event, the squat.

He currently holds the equipped squat world record of 453.5 kg, set at the 2024 World Open Equipped Powerlifting Championships in Iceland.

In Romania, Yang led the discipline after two attempts with successful squat of 435 kg, but when Tilyeubyerd Saifolla of Mongolia cleared 440 kg on his final attempt, Yang decided to counter with a 454 kg squat to set a new world record.

The lift was unsuccessful, ceding the gold to the Mongolian.

Yang's bronze model came in the overall lift, which totaled 1,095 kg when combining his bench press and squat with his deadlift score of 320 kg. He finished behind Bychkov and Saifolla.

The Paiwan powerlifter had a 40 kg edge in the overall standings heading into the deadlift, but he only placed seventh in the category after unsuccessful attempts at 332.5 kg on his final two lifts.

Another Taiwanese, Lin Hong-lin (林鴻麟), took silver in the deadlift with a 365 kg lift, but Lin could only finish eighth overall after lagging behind the field in the bench press and squat.

To date, Taiwan's powerlifting team of eight men and eight women at the 2025 world championships has secured eight gold, eleven silver, and seven bronze medals in Romania.