Consider the envelope pushed.
During the final session of the 2017 Weightlifting World Championships in Anaheim, California, Georgian superheavyweight Lasha Talakhadze earned himself a place in the history books with a 6-for-6 performance that included new World Records in the snatch (220kg) and total (477kg). In addition to his official World Records, both the snatch and total are all-time records in the superheavyweight category.
Simply put, no one has every gone heavier in the history of weightlifting competition, and the 2016 Rio Champion easily added another World Championships to his resume with 23 kilos to spare. His performance was so impressive that a clean & jerk gold almost seemed like an afterthought.
We had seen Talakhadze — still just 24 years old — hit 220kg in the snatch earlier this year at Georgian Nationals, but to do it on the international stage was something else entirely. And the young lifter continues to thrive in high-pressure situations, with his lifts seeming to get faster with each additional kilo. His highest lifts of the night are embedded below (click the arrows in order to view).
It was a +105kg session the likes of which we haven’t seen for years, with three lifters totaling over 450kg. Second place overall — and third in both the snatch and clean & jerk — went to Iran’s Saeid Alihosseini, back to his first international competition after a doping suspension. He nearly bombed out in the snatch but made his final attempt at 203kg, then went 3-for-3 in the clean & jerks to finish with 251kg and a 454kg total.
Behdad Salimikordasiabi (Salimi), the 2012 Olympic Champion who had a controversial lift overturned by the jury to knock him out of the running for a medal in Rio, finished in third place overall with 211kg snatch, 242kg clean & jerk, and 453kg total. He missed his final snatch attempt at 216kg, but it was the clean & jerk series that angered some in the crowd.
In a scene reminiscent of the Rio Olympics, Salimi’s last clean & jerk received three white lights only to then be overturned by the jury of five international judges.
The final results for the Men’s +105kg session are below.
Snatch
1. Lasha Talakhadze (220kg)
2. Behdad Salimikordasiabi (211kg)
3. Saeid Alihosseini (203kg)
Clean & Jerk
1. Lasha Talakhadze (257kg)
2. Mart Seim (253kg)
3. Saeid Alihosseini (251kg)
Total
1. Lasha Talakhadze (477kg)
2. Saeid Alihosseini (454kg)
3. Behdad Salimikordasiabi (453kg)
Featured image: IWF on Facebook