See our World Weightlifting Championships 2019 Hub for full details of all categories.
There was only one likely winner of this category. Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) was always favourite to win by a distance and extend his world records. Some of the other lifters were fairly close to each other though, with most of them opening snatch between 190 and 200.
Ali Davoudi (IRI), the junior world record holder, hit a nice opener at 190 to set up the chance to extend his snatch record. He missed 198 on his second attempt and 199 on his third, losing the chance of a snatch medal.
Gor Minasyan (ARM) opened at 200 to stake his claim to be the second-best super heavyweight here. Walid Bidani (ALG) hit 200 on his last attempt to claim a medal but Eduard Ziaziulin (BLR) could not stick 201.
So, Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) came out for 208 and, as expected, made it easily. Usually, there was still another lifter in the game – Gor Minasyan (ARM) got 212 with his last attempt to briefly take the lead. Lasha, however, would not be beaten. He absolutely smashed 215 with his second attempt.
So Lasha had one more attempt which he could use to break his own snatch world record. He called for 220, which would equal his own all-time snatch record from before the weight categories were changed. By now, we would be surprised to see Lasha miss a snatch and there were no surprises here. It looked like he has plenty in reserve to break his all-time record soon.
You have to feel for Gor Minasyan – he hit snatch that placed him joint-fifth in the all-time heaviest snatchers but it was only good for the silver medal and an eight-kilo deficit behind Talakhadze.
After one clean and jerk at 222 from Walid Bidani (ALG), the bar was loaded with four red plates each side.
Ali Davoudi (IRI) once again set up a junior world record attempt by hitting 230 for his opener. He would have a long wait for his second attempt, which we wanted 240 for. Ten lifts went by and he then raised the attempt to 243, meaning he would wait even longer.
Snatch silver medalist Gor Minasyan (ARM) hit a 237 opener while Ruben Aleksanyan (ARM) also entered the hunt for medals with 241.
Ali Davoudi (IRI) finally came out for his junior world record attempts. Sadly he missed 244 twice.
Lasha was the last to open but there were still a few lifters active when he took his 247 opener, which he comfortably got to give him a huge lead on total.
Gor Minasyan (ARM) got 248 to cement his silver medal position on total.
At this point, the remaining lifters declined their final attempts, perhaps just wanting to see what Lasha could do with his last two.
255 was the next weight called for. It looked like an opener. 264 was then asked for, tantalisingly close to the all-time clean and jerk record of 265.
Hitting 264 gave Lasha the second-biggest clean and jerk of all time, breaking his own current record and pushing his total record up to 484, more than ten kilos more than anyone else has ever managed.
Medals
| Snatch | Clean and Jerk | Total | |
| Gold | Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) – 220 | Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) – 264 | Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) – 484 |
| Silver | Gor Minasyan (ARM) – 212 | Gor Minasyan (ARM) – 248 | Gor Minasyan (ARM) – 460 |
| Bronze | Walid Bidani (ALG) – 200 | Ruben Aleksanyan (ARM) – 245 | Ruben Aleksanyan (ARM) – 437 |
New Records
- World snatch record – Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) 220 (all-time)
- World clean and jerk record – Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) 264
- World total record – Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) 484 (all-time)
A Group Results
| Name | Nation | Sn 1 | Sn 2 | Sn 3 | C+J 1 | C+J 2 | C+J 3 | Total | |
| 1 | TALAKHADZE Lasha | GEO | 208 | 215 | 220 | 247 | 255 | 264 | 484 |
| 2 | MINASYAN Gor | ARM | 200 | 207 | 212 | 237 | 243 | 248 | 460 |
| 3 | ALEKSANYAN Ruben | ARM | x192 | x192 | 192 | 241 | 245 | — | 437 |
| 4 | ZIAZIULIN Eduard | BLR | 193 | 198 | x201 | 225 | x234 | 234 | 432 |
| 5 | BIDANI Walid | ALG | 191 | x197 | 200 | 222 | 231 | x231 | 431 |
| 6 | CHEN Shih-Chieh | TPE | 185 | 190 | x193 | 235 | x242 | x242 | 425 |
| 7 | SARAIVA REIS Fernando | BRA | 185 | x191 | 192 | 225 | 232 | x236 | 424 |
| 8 | TOYCHYYEV Hojamuhammet | TKM | 180 | x187 | x187 | 235 | 242 | — | 422 |
| 9 | DAVOUDI Ali | IRI | 190 | x198 | x199 | 230 | x244 | x244 | 420 |
| 10 | DADRASASL Mohsen | IRI | 181 | 186 | x190 | x225 | x225 | x230 | — |
A Group Start List
| NAME | NATION | ENTRY |
| TALAKHADZE Lasha | GEO | 460 |
| MINASYAN Gor | ARM | 450 |
| ALEKSANYAN Ruben | ARM | 445 |
| DAVOUDI Ali | IRI | 440 |
| ZIAZIULIN Eduard | BLR | 436 |
| TOYCHYYEV Hojamuhammet | TKM | 435 |
| CHEN Shih-Chieh | TPE | 435 |
| BIDANI Walid | ALG | 432 |
| SARAIVA REIS Fernando | BRA | 430 |
| DADRASASL Mohsen | IRI | 426 |