The oldest World Record in international weightlifting (among senior competitors) has finally fallen. At the Fajr Cup IWF Grand Prix in Iran, 85kg lifter Kianoush Rostami clean & jerked 220 kilograms — on his second attempt! — to set a new World Record in the clean & jerk and total for the 85kg weight class.
His stat line for the day: 170 and 175kg on the snatch (declined third attempt), 210 and 220kg on the clean & jerk (declined third attempt).
Below is the first video of the lift, posted to fellow Iranian lifter Bahador Moulaei’s Instagram account:
Here’s another video with a clearer shot:
Because the Fajr Cup is an official IWF-sanctioned event, Roustami’s records will officially count as World Records.
His 220 lift beats the old 85k clean & jerk record — which has stood since 1998 — by 2 kg. The new 85kg total record — 395kg — breaks that of Andrei Rybakou, who totalled 394kg at the 2008 Olympics (but lost on bodyweight to Lu Yong, who also totaled 394kg).
The 24 year old Rostami is a favorite heading into the 2016 Rio Olympics. He is the bronze medalist from London, a two-time World Champion (2011 in Paris and 2014 in Almaty), and silver medalist from the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships in Houston.
