Paris 2024 produced 26 new records – and Nasar got eight of them!

If we had to measure the quality of the weightlifting performances in Paris, a good indicator would be the total number of records established in the French capital during the 2024 Olympic Games: 26! They are divided into three categories – World, Olympic (OR), and World Junior – and spanned throughout eight out of the 10 bodyweight categories on the programme of these Games.

In fact, only the men’s 102kg and the women’s +81kg did not produce any improvement on the existing standards. Otherwise, five men established 13 new best marks, and nine athletes from the women’s field bettered another 13 records (all Olympic). With the changes – compared to previous editions of the Games – in the bodyweight categories for both genders, it was expected that the majority of new records would be Olympic ones. That was the case, with 19 lifts improving the previous standards. There was still a place for two (senior) World and five World Junior records.

Karlos Nasar (BUL)

Among men, the undisputed star was Bulgaria’s Karlos Nasar. Having completed 20 years old in May, he still falls into the junior category. In the 89kg final, he first lifts 213kg in the clean & jerk for a new OR, and then proceeds to a World (and Olympic, and Junior) best mark of 224kg. Adding these results to the 180kg successful attempt in the snatch, he respectively establishes an OR in the total (393kg) and then a World, Olympic, and World Junior global mark of 404kg! Out of the 13 records in the male competition, the Bulgarian ace is therefore responsible for eight of them!

Ali Ammar Yusur (IRQ)

In the +102kg, talented Ali Ammar Yusur, from Iraq and born on August 2, 2004, improved two World Junior records, when he snatched 200kg and completed a total of 437kg! Li Fabin (CHN, 61kg), Weeraphon Wichuma (THA, 73kg) and Rizki Juniansyah (INA, 73kg) were the remaining stars in this statistic: the winner in the 61kg got a new OR in the snatch (143kg); the Indonesian gold medallist in the 73kg also improved an OR in the clean & jerk (199kg); and 20-year-old Wichuma returned home with a new World Junior record also in the clean & jerk (198kg).

Among women, only Olympic records were improved, but there are more athletes involved: nine. The two most prolific ones were Luo Shifang (CHN, 59kg) and Solfrid Koanda (NOR, 81kg), with four and three new best marks respectively.

Luo Shifang (CHN)

In the lighter category, the Chinese champion first snatched 105kg, and then 107kg. In the clean and jerk, she successfully lifted 134 kg, for a total of 241kg. The Norwegian gold medallist first established an OR in total (269kg), and improved it with a clean and jerk of 154kg (also an OR) for a new best of 275kg.

Solfrid Koanda (NOR)

The list concludes with six lifters with one OR each: in the 49kg, Hou Zhihui (CHN) made a 117kg clean and jerk; in the 59kg category, Kamila Konotop (UKR) first snatched 104kg, and then Maude Charron (CAN) improved it to 106kg; in the 71kg category, it happened the same – Angie Palacios (ECU) initially lifted 116kg in the snatch, but soon after Olivia Reeves (USA) did 1kg better, establishing the new OR in 117kg; finally, in the 81kg, and before Koanda’s performances, Sara Samir (EGY) had improved the OR in the clean and jerk, with a 151kg lift.

By Pedro Adrega
IWF Communications

OFFICIAL RESULTS here – The list of new records can be found on pages 13-14 of this document