With the IWF’s recent announcement of weightlifting’s new bodyweight categories — which technically still need to be ratified — lifters around the globe have been pondering where to take their diets and training in the coming years.
One lifter who certainly seems to be taking the announcement in stride is Iran’s Sohrab Moradi, who continues to pop up on social media with absolutely massive training lifts over his current weight class’ world record.
Check out the video below, where Moradi takes 242kg for a ride in the clean & jerk. Note that we don’t have confirmation as to when exactly he completed this lift, but it looks to be pretty recent. It would also be in line with numbers he recently hit in an Iranian national competition, which served as a tune-up for the Asian Games later this year.
Way to stick that jerk!
This is a full 9 kilograms above his world record in the clean & jerk at 94kg. The 2016 Rio Olympic Champion at that bodyweight, Moradi seems most likely to move up to the new Olympic class of 96kg. Noting that most weightlifters train several kilos over their class’ weight cutoff, that sort of jump would be fairly easy for Moradi, and more immediately attainable than cutting down to 81kg or up to 109kg (the next closest Olympic weight classes for men).
A bigger unknown will be the bodyweight fate of Moradi’s countryman and fellow Olympic Champion Kianoush Rostami, who recently competed at 94kg and announced his intention to move up a weight class for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Rostami is widely known to train alone for most of the year, separate from much of Iran’s national team. So it may be some time before we see a Moradi vs. Rostami lift-off in training, and that matchup may in fact have to wait until the next international competition where they both compete — assuming they’re both lifting as either 94kg or 96kg athletes.
Featured image: @ehsan_sharif_ahmadi on Instagram
