I think you're doom spiraling too hard after just a few races...   Giacomel is very strong and I think that he might definitely land on a podium this season. The Italian women's team has a lot of very talented juniors that just need some time to grow. Dorothea Wierer also took her time to grow into her best form, so why is it not possible to give some time to the other talented athletes? Not everyone is bound to crush it at 21-23 y. o. 

Of course they could make lineal world records, but they don't want that, because those records would never be beaten. And it's way more marketable, flashy etc. when you have "modern" WR and they happen regularly. Athletics have started mastering this in their course of upgrading the old WRs with "exciting new stars".   There is absolutely no reason, when your current weight is up to 89 kg for example, and the previous WR has been set in the old weight at 85-86-87 etc. that it's not automatically taken. It has been set under the current limit, there is no difference if the person weighted 85 or 88.5 kg it's within the range.. Now if the old category was over 89, then there would be an advantage, so those WR shouldn't be taken.    The best way is, like you mentioned, to use the bodyweight of everyone, but that is an impossible ask for any weightlifting governing body. I'm not even sure how they are able to run a normal excel..

Since it has been so long, here's a comparison of events relative to 2018.   Aquatics Diving Removed: All events; 3m springboard (M/F), 10m platform (M/F), Team (Mix) Swimming Removed: 800m freestyle (M/F), 4x100m freestyle relay (M/F/Mix), and 4x100m medley relay (M/F/Mix)   Badminton Removed: Team (Mix)   Baseball/Softball Add: Baseball5 (Mix)   Basketball Removed: Dunk contest (M), Shoot-out contest (F)   Boxing Add: 1 women's category Removed: 4 men's categories   Canoeing Slalom Removed: All events; Obstacle C1 (M/F), Obstacle K1 (M/F) Sprint Removed: All events; Head-to-head C1 (M/F), Head-to-head K1 (M/F)   Cycling Add: Road race (M/F), Time trial (M/F) Removed: Combined team (M/F), BMX Race (Mix), BMX Freestyle (Mix)   Dancesport (Breaking) Removed: Team (Mix)   Equestrian Removed: Team (Mix)   Fencing Removed: Team (Mix)   Field Hockey Removed: All events; Hockey5s (M/F)   Golf Removed: All events; Individual (M/F), Team (Mix)   Gymnastics Add: Team Artistic All-Around (Mix) Acrobatics Removed: All events; Pairs (Mix) Artistic Removed: Floor (M/F), Vault (M/F), Rings (M), Pommel horse (M), Horizontal bar (M), Parallel bar (M), Uneven bars (F), Balance beam (F) Rhythmic Removed: All events; Individual all-around (F) Trampoline Removed: All events; Individual (M/F) Combined Removed: All events; Team (Mix)   Judo Removed: Team (Mix)   Karate Removed: All events; M (-61kg, -68kg, +68kg), F (-53kg, -59kg, +59kg)   Modern pentathlon Removed: All events; Individual (M/F), Team (Mix)   Roller sports Skateboarding Add: Street (M/F) Speed skating Removed: All events; Combined (M/F)   Rowing Add: Costal single sculls (M/F), Costal double sculls (Mix) Removed: Single sculls (M/F), Coxless pairs (M/F)   Sailing Removed: Kiteboarding (M/F), Multihull Class (Mix)   Shooting Removed: All events; Air Rifle (M/F/Mix Team), Air Pistol (M/F/Mix Team)   Sport climbing Removed: All events; Combined (M/F)   Taekwondo Add: Team (Mix)   Tennis Removed: All events; Singles (M/F), Doubles (M/F/Mix)   Triathlon Removed: Relay (Mix)   Weightlifting Removed: All events; M (-56kg, -62kg, -69kg, -77kg, 85kg, +85kg), W (-44kg, -48kg, -53kg, -58kg, -63kg, +63kg)   Wrestling Beach Wrestling Add: M (-50kg, -60kg, -70kg, -80kg), W (-40kg, -50kg, -60kg, -70kg) Freestyle Remove: M (-48kg, -55kg, -65kg, -80kg, -110kg), W (-43kg, -49kg, -57kg, -65kg, -73kg) Greco-Roman Removed: M (-45kg, -51kg, -60kg, -71kg, -92kg)   Wushu Add: Changquan Combined (M/F), Taijiquan Combined (M/F)     In total we have dropped from 239 to 151 events. Olympic sports Canoeing, Field Hockey, Golf, Modern Pentathlon, Shooting, Sport Climbing, Tennis, and Weightlifting will not be involved in any matter while the non-Olympic sport of Karate was also dropped. Baseball/Softball, Dancesport, and Wushu are non-Olympic sports which will get to participate in some capacity.   22/31 Olympic sports will be present (surfing has yet to be involved at a Youth Olympics).   I know we can't (or should) emulate the Olympic program, but hosts should try to include as many sports as possible, especially the relatively cheaper ones like shooting, sport climbing and weightlifting. The good thing is that it looks like the mixed NOCs events are gone (I think they mentioned this earlier).

schedule of events is always the same, you can look at the previous round and see how normally things go   no finals on Friday (qualifications of all events only), medal sessions are always only on Saturday and Sunday (alternating men and women's distances on the 2 days, mixed relay normally ends on Sunday)

There are both positives and negatives in this situation. The negative is that we are once again changing the weights and erasing records in an attempt to forget the past and "start all over". Nothing speaks more about the integrity of a sport, when it changes it's system every 5 years.   On the positive is that they are actually reducing the number of weights and not keeping the absurd 10. And i know, that for a long time in the past they were always 10, but i think 8 is the perfect balance.   If only wrestling could reduce them to 8 as well.. Boxing could have 10, but that would still be a plus from their current 13-15, or whatever number they have.

I think this time  won't get many 4th places, rather they have some chances to win it all (in Freestyle)

some Olympic stars are missing...   no Ceccon nor Martinenghi for  and, above all, no  Marchand

New events happening.   There will be a mixed 4x100m, starting 2025 Official Walk distances from 2026 will now simply be Marathon & Half Marathon.   https://worldathletics.org/news/press-releases/world-athletics-council-action-against-gender-based-violence

loves Košice, we know this, both times won Hockey world champs, they were in Košice so no surprise it will be Finland who´ll play all its 3 group matches in Košice   https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/0294-1c7d2702841e-d24c5fd030cd-1000/u21_match_schedule.pdf