Congratulations to final year student Wang Jiang Haonan, who recently won a silver medal at the 2022 British University and College Sport (BUCS) Weightlifting and Para Powerlifting Championships.
Wang Jiang Haonan is a final year student on the BSc Applied Mathematics as part of the Xi‘an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 2+2 programme.
He represented the University of Liverpool in the 73kg division, and his silver medal is the best result ever achieved by a Chinese student, and the first ever weightlifting medal for the University of Liverpool.
Wang Jiang Haonan attended high school at the Youth Aviation School in Xi’an, China, where he was first introduced to CrossFit training and weightlifting in the school’s physical training classes.
At Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University he joined the fitness club and served as the president between 2019 and 2020. While training with his teammates in the university weightlifting team, he also organised a series of activities such as Fat Loss Month, Night Run and some basic fitness knowledge sharing seminars to help more students develop good fitness habits.
Wang Jiang Haonan said: “The first time I touched a barbell and lifted it over my head, I fell in love with the sport.”
“I hope that through our promotion we can help break the stereotype of weightlifting as it is great for the development of strength, coordination, and flexibility and is extremely technically demanding.”
He already has his eyes on the next prize – he hopes undertake a Masters degree, and then stay in the UK for a few years after his postgraduate studies to continue training to win a gold medal while he works.