Transgender athlete Laurel Hubbard has collected two silver medals for New Zealand at the Weightlifting World Championships in Anaheim, California.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Competing in the women's 90-plus kg division, the controversial New Zealand lifter finished second in the snatch class and overall to claim the country's first medals at the event.

The bronze medallist at last year's Olympic Games in Rio, US athlete Sarah Robles won all three gold medals up for grabs.

Robles lifted 126kg in the snatch to pip Hubbard by 2kg, while the Americans' overall total was 275kg, 9kg more than the New Zealander.

Hubbard finished fourth in the clean and jerk, lifting 6kg less than Robles.

This year is the first time the championships' programme has included the women's 90-plus kg category, which had 10 competitors.

Nine nations were banned from the event for doping offences, meaning some of the world's best in the division were not able to compete.

Hubbard took the lead in the snatch with her second lift of 124kg but Robles topped that with her third and final attempt and the New Zealander was unable to lift 127kg to claim the title.

Her personal best in the snatch is 131kg.

The 39-year-old complies with the conditions both the International Olympic Committee and the International Weightlifting Federation adhered to for transgender athletes.

However, her participation has not gone down well with everyone in the elite weightlifting community.

Robles' coach Tim Swords told Reuters before the event it was "not fair" to allow Hubbard, also a weightlifter when she was male, to compete.

Australian Weightlifting Federation chief executive, Michael Keelan, last week told AAP he didn't believe it sustained a level playing field and said his view was shared by others "in the sporting world".

Hubbard was last month the first transgender athlete named in the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team, ahead of April's Games on the Gold Coast.

She won three gold medals in her division at this year's Oceania Championships, held in September.