At a national competition the weekend of September 18th, Georgian superheavyweight weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze completed a series of four snatches that culminated in a 222kg lift — the heaviest snatch ever recorded on film, and the heaviest confirmed snatch made in the history of the sport.
According to Seb Ostrowicz of Weightlifting House, Talakhadze took four snatch attempts (in normal weightlifting competition, an athlete has three attempts), making successful lifts at 205, 212, and 218kg before his 222kg lift. The lift is 2kg over his official world record.
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Talakhadze is the current world record holder in the snatch with 220kg. It’s a weight he has hit multiple times in international competition. The 2016 Olympic Champion first hit 220kg in international competition at the 2017 World Championships in Anaheim, California, breaking his own world record of 217kg. It was recognized as the heaviest snatch ever made in competition and pushed the world record to heights once thought nearly unimaginable.
Related: Lasha Talakhadze clean & jerks 264kg
That was a world record at the time, but soon after, bodyweight categories were restructured and records were reset. He would once again hit a 220kg snatch at the 2019 World Championships, this time in Thailand. At that same competition, Talakhadze clean & jerked a world record 264kg, giving him a 484kg total, the heaviest of all time across weight classes. It’s widely considered one of the greatest weightlifting performances of all time.
Talakhadze had previously completed a 221kg snatch in training, which was the heaviest snatch ever filmed prior to his September 2020 lift.
With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics postponed until 2021, elite weightlifters like Talakhadze have another year to train toward personal bests, and in this case, monumental world records. The world waits in anticipation to see what Talakhadze — the presumptive favorite in his bodyweight class — can do once in-person international competition resumes.
Earlier this summer, retired Ukranian weightlifter Oleksiy Torokhtiy interviewed Lasha regarding his training routine and competitive mindset.
Featured image: @doctor_girogi on Instagram