IWF Grand Prix II, Day 11 Recap – Men’s +109 kg Results: Armenians Lalayan and Martirosyan at the Top with Double Win for Their Country

11 super heavyweight athletes are ready to hit Qatar’s scene on the culminating day of the world competition. Supergiant lifters were highly determined to exceed their limits on their way to the Top 3 rank. Each of them prepared all their trump cards as at stake is the way open to Paris. All of us were waiting for this great performance of superheavyweight male lifters who will define the strongest athletes in the category.

Follow the TOROKHTIY MEDIA and watch this long-awaited competition where we’ll witness a new big name ruling the podium! Don’t miss the performance – follow us and stay tuned for the most decisive moment of this IWF Grand Prix II!

Athletes’ Presentation

Even though the current Olympic, World, and European Champion Lasha Talakhadze didn’t compete at this event, we had two other main contenders who wanted to take this opportunity and finally decide who’s the strongest and second-best lifter in the world.

It’s obvious that the major favorites of this category were two Armenians who reserved 450 kg and 440 kg for the opening total respectively:

Varazdat Lalayan, a two-time silver and bronze medalist at the World Champs and two-time silver and bronze medalist at the European Championships;

and Simon Martirosyan, a two-time World Champion and two-time European Champion;

the Japanese lifter Murakami Eishiro, known as “Tank”, garnered three Japanese national records in Snatch, Clean & Jerk, and a total at the 2022 All-Japan Championships. Today he reserved 410 kg which looked quite promising.

Snatch

The performance in the Snatch exercise started from 160 kg.

• 6: Wilkes Caine Morgan – 174 kg
• 5: Toychyyev Hojamuhammet – 174 kg
• 4: Murakami Eishiro – 188 kg

On this contest day, 57 % of all attempts were successful, which is a below-average rate.

Top 3 Leaders’ Results

Now let’s analyze the Top 3 lifters’ performance:

• 🥇Varazdat Lalayan – 200 kg
• 🥈Ziaziulin Eduard – 193 kg
• 🥉Simon Martirosyan – 190 kg

Simon Martirosyan won the bronze medal in Snatch by lifting 190 kg. The first attempt was 190 kg, and the second of  194 kg he failed unfortunately, and declined to lift his third attempt. This wasn’t his best performance as he previously lifted 195 kg at the European Champs in Yerevan by winning bronze as well, and 200 kg at the Worlds in Riyadh.

The second place went to Ziaziulin Eduard who snatched 193 kg at the third attempt. He did the first attempt at 180 kg, 187 kg on the second try, and resulted in 193 kg. Today he showed his average-level performance as his best Snatch ever was 206 kg at the 2021 Worlds.
The gold medal went to Varazdat Lalayan who managed to lift 200 kg for the first attempt. However, his efforts to lift more, 210 kg, finished with no lift on the second and third attempts. Nevertheless, it didn’t hinder him from winning the Snatch session.

Snatch Results

To sum up, we witnessed lots of red lights during the Snatch session, specifically on the second and third attempts; moreover, the French athlete Jean Pierre Coullet withdrew from the competition.

Still, the leaders were Armenian Lalayan and Martirosyan, but the latter declined his last attempt after no lift of 194 kg. So, he fell behind Ziaziulin by 3 kilos.

The fourth spot moved to the Japanese lifter Murakami Eishiro who showed good performance with all three successful lifts. He was the first athlete who managed to lift 180 kg because the majority of lifters failed to cope with this weight.

Turkmenistani Toychyyev Hojamuhammat finished fifth with 174 kg at the second try, while the American lifter Wilkes Caine Morgan secured sixth position with the same 174 kg.

Clean & Jerk

The contest in the Clean & Jerk discipline started with a weight of 200 kg.

• 6: Wilkes Caine Morgan – 213 kg
• 5: Kucera Kamil – 221 kg
• 4: Murakami Eishiro – 225 kg

45% of all attempts in this exercise were successful which is a below-average rate.

Top 3 Leaders’ Results

Let’s describe the performance of the Top 3 lifters:

• 🥇Varazdat Lalayan – 241 kg
• 🥈Simon Martirosyan – 240 kg
• 🥉Ziaziulin Eduard – 225 kg

Ziaziulin Eduard clinched third place by lifting 225 kg on the second attempt. His first try was 220 kg, then he did 225 kilos, but declined his final attempt. Unfortunately, today he didn’t improve his personal best at this exercise of 241 kg he did at the Worlds in Tashkent.

The silver medalist in Clean & Jerk became Simon Martirosyan with a result of 240 kg on the second attempt. Today he started the performance with 231 kg, then moved to 240 kg on the second try, and then declined his third try. Today he repeated his lift of 240 kg that was the world record in 2018 at the World Championships. Although, his best Clean & Jerk remains the same – 250 kg he did at the Worlds in Riyadh.

Varazdat Lalayan became a gold winner with an incredible lift of 241 kg. His first attempt was 230 kg, the second – 235 kg, and the final try brought him gold victory. Today he showed 9 kilos less than his personal best of 250 kg he performed in Yerevan, which brought him silver.

Clean & Jerk Results

Again, we can confirm that today’s competition was full of unexpected events, numerous red light on the scoreboard, and athletes’ withdrawals. However, it didn’t spoil the general show that was really tense and breathtaking, as the best super heavyweights were competing this evening.

There were 3 total no lifts: athletes from the USA Medina Alejandro, Kajdoci Tamas from Serbia, and Samoan Mao Sanele bombed out from the battle.

Meanwhile, Armenian powerhouses Lalayan and Martirosyan proved their ultimate power and excellent physical form to lift more and more weights.

Total Results

• 🥇Varazdat Lalayan. – 441 kg
• 🥈Martirosyan Simon  – 430 kg
• 🥉Ziaziulin Eduard – 418 kg
• 4 Murakami Eishiro – 413 kg
• 5 Kucera Kamil – 393 kg
• 6 Wilkes Caine Morgan – 387 kg

The gold medalist in the division was Varazdat Lalayan who did 441 kg overall. It was his worthest total result among all his European and World Championships, but still he showed his best performance at the today’s tough battle.

The silver medal went to Simon Martirosyan who got 430 kg overall, showing 5 kilos less than his totals at the Europeans in Yerevan and 20 kg less compared to his 450 kg he did in Riyadh.

Ziaziulin Eduard took bronze due to his total of 418 kg, with 12 kilo gap behind Armenian Martirosyan.

Final Thoughts

The final competition day and the last Men’s weight category brought us lots of remarkable moments full of stellar lifts, and unexpected failures that costed athletes their spots in the ranking list. Some weren’t ready for such high competition in the division, but the expected leaders were keeping total focus during every lift. 

So, as we expected the Armenia lifters prove us that they deserve to be in the Top, no matter how many opponents they have. The proper mindset, confidence, resilience, and inner balance help them to surpass the rivals. 

Eventually, all winners of the 2023 Qatar IWF Grand Prix II were determined and the major awards were dealt between the strongest lifters. However, the more intriguing battles are waiting for us at the next qualifying event before the start of the Games. Keep following us to be ready for the following competitions in the world of weightlifting.