South Korea has won the most medals among 74 countries competing in the World Weightlifting Championships in Uzbekistan, held from December 8 to the 17.

Korea finished first in both the big and small medal tallies.

In the big medal tally, South Korea took four gold out of 20 up for grabs, as well as one silver and two bronze, compared to the host country, which won two gold and three silver.

In the big and small medal tally, which also includes snatch and clean and jerk medals, South Korea secured 21 out of a total of 180 medals, of which nine were gold.

Uzbekistan trailed with 14 medals including six gold.

The Korea Weightlifting Federation said it's by far the best performance ever at the world championships.

Korea's success came as weightlifting powerhouse China chose to sit out the event due to the spread of the omicron variant. North Korea was also absent. Many athletes who competed in the Tokyo Olympics also skipped the championships due to injury concerns.