Weightlifting sensation as Bulgarian teenager Nasar smashes Lu Xiaojun's senior world record
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Loading... - Ashley Walsh
- 13 Dec 2021
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Nasar, from Bulgaria, is so young, at 17 years 214 days that he broke youth, junior and senior world records at the same time when he made his final clean and jerk of 208 kilograms.
On a good day for young lifters, it won him the 81kg title at the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships ahead of two 21-year-olds, the Iranian Mir Mostafa Javadi and Marin Robu of Moldova, who were respectively 7kg and 11kg behind Nasar.
Statisticians were trawling back through records to find out how many weightlifters have ever won a world title at a younger age than Nasar – and the only name anybody has offered so far is another Bulgarian, Sevdalin Marinov, who was 17 years 73 days when he won in 1985.
The sport’s biggest names from the late 20th century, Turkey's Naim Suleymanoglu and Halil Mutlu, Georgia's Kakhi Kakhiashvili and Greece's Pyrros Dimas, were all older when they won their first world title, by between one and five years.
Nasar’s 166-208 gave him a total of 374kg, equalling the total Lu made in winning Olympic gold for the second time in Tokyo four and a half months ago.
When Olympic qualifying started, Nasar was not entered – hardly surprising given he was a 14-year-old who had never competed in international weightlifting.
Nasar bettered Lu’s clean and jerk world record by 1kg and was only 4kg below the Chinese lifter’s world record total of 378kg, which he set in 2019 when he was more than double Nasar’s age.
His performance earned Nasar a sweep of youth world records and was also a junior record on total, beating the 372kg set by another Chinese athlete, Li Dayin, three years ago when he was more than three years older than Nasar.
"A new day has started for Bulgarian weightlifting," said Arif Majed, Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation (BWF) President.
"Karlos is our first world champion since 2007 and our first world record holder for many, many years – and this is just the start.
"You will see many more records from Karlos Nasar.
"He is a national hero and we are so proud of him, and you will see so much more to enjoy from Bulgarian weightlifting in the years to come."
Given Bulgaria’s desperate doping record in decades past – four times banned or sent home from the Olympic Games since 1988 – it was not surprising that questions were being asked by doubters on social media.
Majed, speaking to insidethegames while Nasar was with doping control, said the teenager had been tested at least 10 times since he won the senior European title in Moscow in April – "and we’re not talking national agency, we’re talking WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) tests".
He said: "Listen, I understand it’s very hard to believe that such results are possible at such a young age, but we also have to consider genetics, consider his talent.
"People might think something shady is going on but everything is up to par, everything is as it should be. Read More…
