Jin Yunseong from South Korea weighed in only marginally higher than 102 kilograms, in which he is ranked second for Paris 2024, before winning at 109kg.

In the women’s 87kg Lo Ying-Yuan - the eighth and last member of Chinese Taipei’s team entered here - made her last lift after two failures to move ahead of Dayana Mina from Ecuador.

That was Asia’s first win in a women’s contest here, whereas the men have won four times.

Lo made 106-129-235, Mina 103-130-233 and third-placed Elizabeth Reyes from Cuba 101-128-229.

Although she was out of the medals, fourth-placed Maria Valdes from Chile is making steady progress in her comeback after injury and motherhood.

She cut her weight by 10kg in three months between competitions but still posted a better total than last time.

Valdes competed at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games and missed Tokyo 2020 when a serious shoulder injury required surgery. 

She is aiming to lift at Paris 2024 but the big target this year is the Pan American Games, which Chile will host in October.

The Pan American Championships in March was Valdes' first competition in two years, and came 10 months after she gave birth to a daughter, Rafaela, who "loves being in the gym and has no problems with noise".

Valdes competed in the super-heavyweights in Argentina three months ago when she weighed more than 94kg. 

Here, she weighed in at 84.65kg - not too far away from the Olympic category of 81kg which is her target.

She failed with her final attempts in snatch and clean and jerk, but 100-120-220 was up 10kg on her previous total.

"I can truly say that being an athlete is completely compatible with being a mother," she said before starting out on her quest.

"It is super important that athletes know that pregnancy is beneficial and not contradictory, since women generate a little more strength and resistance."

Getting back to the gym after giving birth also improved her mental health, said Valdes, 31.

In the men's event, Jin, who was sixth in Tokyo at 109kg, appeared to suffer a twinge from the knee injury that left him in pain at the Asian Championships in his home nation last month. 

He finished second at 102kg there, posting a 398kg total.

Jin, 27, made 165 in the snatch before declining his final attempt. 

He seemed to be feeling his injury when he missed his second clean and jerk but came out to make 196kg for a total of 361kg.

He is the second man in the top 10 of the 102kg to have lifted at all three Paris qualifying events so far, the other being Wes Kitts of the United States.

"It was a bit difficult," said Jin, whose aim was to repeat his 109kg numbers, which include two totals of 400kg, at the lower weight.

Juan Columbie from Cuba was second on 160-195-355 and Hernan Vierra from Peru third on 145-200-345.

Oscar Garces was the latest Colombian to withdraw after weighing in here. 

The reason for the large number of withdrawals is that Colombia wants to finish top of the medals table in the Central American and Caribbean Games starting on Friday in El Salvador.