Garik Karapetyan Brings Home Gold and Bronze in Snatch and Total at IWF Grand Prix II in Doha – Qatar

Armenia’s 20 year old Garik Karapetyan showed himself with the Armenian team to lift heavy and take names. Showing some of the highest skills in Snatch and taking only 5th in Clean and Jerk made him grab a spot on the podium in the men’s 102 kg category on December 12 in Qatar.

His Snatch attempts started real solid, with him stepping to the 172 kg bar, he hooked himself at the the barbell and snatched it confidently. After some of his opponents had made even their third attempt, he stepped into the platform for his second attempt, he faced the 180 kg barbell but missed the snatch forward resulting in a “no lift”.

He was the last of this round to lift his third attempt, he needed to make this attempt because he was behind Sharankou, Liu, Elbakh and Tsikhantsou respectively, Garik got close to the 180 kg bar for his third attempt, snatched it, and look side to side with the barbell overhead confidently, knowing he had just won gold.

Clean and jerk things weren’t as smooth, he had put 200 kg on the table for his first attempt went to the platform, cleaned and jerked it solidly, after a couple of his opponents lifted 210 kg and 205 kg he needed to go higher, he put 211 kg on the bar and cleaned it, the bar sank him far down but he managed to lift it up and after a four or five breaths he jerked it successfully.

He looked out of breath after that lift, for his third attempt he put 215 on the bar and cleaned it, but wasn’t able to stabilize be barbell after the jerk and missed it forward, leaving him with a 211 kg for the Clean and Jerk, placing him in 5th place.

But putting aside his Clean and Jerk performance, he managed to get a 391 kg total, placing him in third place for the total, below Liu Huanhua and Elbakh Fares Ibrahim 7 kg and 9 kg ahead of him respectively.

About Garik Karapetyan

Born in Armenia in June 2003, this 20 year old weightlifter has nothing but promise for his future career. Earlier this year he claimed gold in the European Championship in the 102 category with a 178 kg Snatch and a junior record setting 214 kg Clean and Jerk for a total of 392 kg, and finished his junior career in style by winning his third straight world title in Guadalajara earlier this year.

Curious about more details on the men’s 102 kg category? Go to our recap where you can find all details on the top spots and also you can find a day to day recap on the whole competition where you can see all winners of every female and male categories and who’s going to Paris 2023.