Her feat was all the more remarkable given that she was working full-time as an electrician the year before, and she suffered such a bad injury in training that she thought she might not be fit in time.

Because of that stress fracture in her wrist, Koanda was training first with a stick, then just a bar until only a few weeks before she competed in Colombia.

She was also without her usual support team of Stian Grimseth, President of the Norwegian Weightlifting Federation who had to return home early for back surgery, and coach Zygmunt Smalcerz, who did not travel to Colombia.

In 2023 in Riyadh, Koanda added the clean and jerk world title at 87kg.