A new open category for weightlifting athletes is set to feature for the first time at the World Junior Championships in November ©Getty Images

Weightlifters who want to enter a new "open category" for athletes who are neither male nor female can do so for the first time at the International Weightlifting Federation’s (IWF) World Junior Championships in November, the first competition where a new gender policy will be used.

The Championships, which will also feature a funded training camp and a tree-planting project, take place from November 15 to 23 in Guadalajara.

The open category is not open to cis-gender males or females, and has been created for those who are intersex, those "identifying as a gender not congruent with their assigned birth gender" and differences in sex development (DSD) athletes.

Anybody who wants to enter the open category has until the first week of October to do so, because eligibility checks on applicants, by a new IWF Gender Committee, will take several weeks.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Hubbard failed to lift 120kg above her head on her first attempt in the final. On her second attempt at 125kg, she managed to lift the weight,  pumping her fist in satisfaction, but the judges ruled it a "no lift". 

The Oceanian tried again at 125kg, but failed to get up with the weight over her head and was the only one of the 13 finalists to fail to complete at least one lift and has since retired from competition.

The new gender policy, including a detailed explanation of DSD, can be found here.

The IWF Technical Committee is keen to bring in improved timing and scoring systems ©ITG
The IWF Technical Committee is keen to bring in improved timing and scoring systems ©ITG

Among the more significant suggestions was a recommendation from the Technical Committee that there should in future be athlete qualification quotas for senior World Championships.

The committee is also keen to update the scoring and timing systems used at IWF competitions.

Related to the IWF’s development programme, and in co-operation with Olympic Solidarity, a training camp for 10 junior athletes - one male and one female per continent - will be held in Mexico before the World Juniors.

As a sustainability initiative, all athletes competing in Guadalajara will plant a tree in their own name.

At the World Youth Championships in Lima in Peru in May the IWF will use two platforms for the first time, on an experimental basis.

Plans for a second edition of the Direct Support Programme - effectively athlete scholarships - after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games were presented by the Athletes Commission.

It is also hoping to create an Athlete Transition Programme, aimed at supporting lifters after they finish their competitive career.

The new gender policy, including a detailed explanation of DSD, can be found here.

The IWF will be sending the policy and all pertinent information by September 15 to all member federations.

A subcommittee composed of medical doctors has been created and will review submissions.

The decision to use the gender policy for the World Juniors was one of several taken today by the Executive Board of the IWF, which continues to adopt reforms.