At this point, you wouldn’t get much pushback if you claim Lasha Talakhadze is one of the greatest weightlifters ever to live. The super heavyweight out of Sachkhere, Georgia, entered the 2021 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships as the favorite in the +109 kilogram class.
The championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, began with Talakhadze holding all three world records in his weight class and ended with him setting new world records.
Here’s a video of Talakhadze’s Clean & Jerk from IWF’s Instagram:
This is Talakhadze’s 5th World Champsionships gold medal; below are his totals as he completed 6 out of 6 attempts on December 17th, 2021:
Clean & Jerk
- 1st Attempt: 247 kgs (544.5lbs)
- 2nd Attempt: 257 kgs (566.6 lbs)
- 3rd Attempt: New World Record 267 kgs (588.6lbs)
Snatch
- 1st Attempt: 210 kgs (463 lbs)
- 2nd Attempt: 218 kgs (480.6 lbs)
- 3rd Attempt: New World Record 225 kgs (496 lbs)
Total: New World Record 492kgs (1,084.7 lbs)
Here’s a look at his record setting snatch from IWF’s Instagram:
To give you an idea of how far ahead Talakhadze is from the pack, the final lifts from 2nd and 3rd place are below:
Second Place: Varazdat Lalayan (Armenia)
- Clean & Jerk: 246 kgs (541.2 lbs)
- Snatch: 211 kgs (464.2 lbs)
- Total: 457 kgs (1,005.4 lbs)
Third Place: Gor Minasyan (Armenia)
- Clean & Jerk: 243 kgs (534.6 lbs)
- Snatch: 205 kgs (451 lbs)
- Total: 448 kgs (985.6 lbs)
We should look at the previous record holders (Talakhadze included) to put these record-breaking feats into perspective. The all-time clean & jerk was previously set by Soviet/Belarussian and 1980 Olympic Gold medalist Leonid Taranenko. He held the title for 33 years after setting it in 1988 at a competition in Canberra, Australia, at 266 kgs (585.2 lbs). Talakhadze beat his snatch record of 223 kgs (490.6 lbs) from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where he set the total lift record of 488 kgs (1,073.6 lbs).
By the end of this competition, Lasha Talakhadze set three new world records and is coming close to the once thought nearly impossible 500 kg (1,100 lbs) total. If anyone can hit this milestone, it will be Talakhadze!
As it stands, Talakhadze has five IWF World Championship gold medals (2015, 2017-2019, 2021) plus Olympic gold medals from the 2016 Rio games and Tokyo 2020, five European Championships gold medals (2016-2019, 2021), not to mention his Junior and Youth World Championships.
Image below taken from Talakhazde's Instagram.
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Lasha Talakhadze will go down in history as one of the greatest weightlifters with 23 world records, and at 28 years old, we think he still has plenty left in the tank to keep us entertained and wowed.
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Kiel DiGiovanni
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