Armenia’s Varazdat Lalayan Becomes Two-Time World Champion in Weightlifting

FØRDE, NORWAY  — On the final day of the World Weightlifting Championships held in Førde, Norway, Olympic silver medalist and World and European champion Varazdat Lalayan competed in the men’s super-heavyweight (+110 kg) category.

Lalayan successfully lifted 206 kg and 211 kg in the snatch, earning the gold medal in that discipline. In the clean and jerk, he lifted 245 kg and 250 kg, again finishing first.

With a total of 461 kg, Lalayan was crowned World Champion for the second consecutive year.

The Fordehuset was full to its 1,700 capacity once more as a hugely successful Championships came to a close. The audience saw Lalayan take the lead with his first attempt and finish well clear of Gor Minasyan from Bahrain and Korea’s Song Yeonghwan who won the bronze medal.

In his past seven competitions Lalayan, 26, has been beaten only once, finishing 3kg behind Lasha Talakhadze at the Paris Olympic Games. Lasha was not lifting in the other six – he was in the audience in Forde – and Lalayan’s winning margin has ranged from 8kg to 35kg.

Today it was 14kg when Lalayan made 211-250-461. His four good lifts was a far better effort than anybody else in a session when there were 26 red lights on the scoreboard compared with 16 whites. A total of 12 attempts were declined.