IWF Grand Prix II, Day 4 Recap – Men’s 73 kg: Latvian Suharevs reigned the podium, leaving the Chinese behind with minimal gap

Day 4 of the IWF Grand Prix II in Qatar presented us with the eye-grabbing performances of nine weightlifters who are willing to make their anthems sound on the sports hall and create a hallmark moment for their countries. Nine powerhouses faced on the podium to prove their strength and excellent preparation for the intense lifts as a limited number of athletes had a chance to head to Paris.

Men’s 73-kg division outperformed our expectations by witnessing shattering results. Some refined their prior accomplishments, while others were defeated by better-prepared rivals. Watch the video to know finally who in the 73-kg category will head to the 2024 Olympics and will battle against the strongest athletes in the world!

Athletes’ Presentation

Today we were spectating 9 weightlifters who are not just national stars and proud of their countries. They’re skillful lifters having great wins, as well as pitiful moments along their path in professional weightlifting. Let’s name a few of their brightest accomplishments to imagine today’s possible scenario.

Shi Zhiyong, a two-time Olympic, three-time World, and four-time Asian Champion, and current World Record holder in Snatch and Totals.

Mosquera Lozano Luis Javier, an Olympics silver medalist who set two Pan American records in Snatch and total. He’s also a two-time gold and two-time silver medalist at the Pan Ams. 

Wichuma Weeraphon, who won gold at the 2023 World Champs in Riyadh.

Ritvars Suharevs, a four-time gold medalist of the European Youth Championships, and a European Champion in his current weight category.

Let’s witness who’s going to hit the podium this evening and set new records on their way to the 2024 Olympic Games!

Snatch

The performance in the Snatch exercise started from 133 kg.

• 6: MAYORA PERNA Julio Ruben – 145 kg
• 5: JAVADOV Omar – 146 kg
• 4: ANDRIATSITOHAINA Tojonirina Alain – 147 kg

On this contest day, 55 % of all attempts were successful which is a below-average rate.

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

• 🥇SHI Zhiyong – 160 kg
• 🥈SUHAREVS Ritvars – 156 kg
• 🥉MOSQUERA LOZANO Luis Javier – 150 kg

Mosquera Lozano Luis Javier won bronze in Snatch at the second attempt. His first lift was 146 kg, the second – 150 kg, and the last failed 153 kg. By the way, he managed to move out of Group B by prevailing some lifters from Group A. But, trying to do more, namely 153 kg, he failed this try.

Overall, the Colombian lifter did the same Snatch result as it was at the Worlds in Riyadh. Today, he didn’t get lucky to beat his Pan American record of 155 kg.

The silver medalist became a Latvian weightlifter Ritvars Suharevs. He did all successful attempts by increasing weights gradually: 150 kg, 154 kg, and 156 kg. So, his third attempt brought him the second-best result. 

The leader in this round was Chinese athlete Shi Zhiyong. He did 155 kg on the first try, 160 kg on the second, and 163 kg that resulted in ‘no lift’. Remembering his previous results, he was 6 kilos away from his Olympic record set in Tokyo of 166 kg. Nevertheless, Shi outperformed his opponent from Latvia by 4 kilos.

Snatch Results

To summarize the Snatch round, it’s obvious that there’s a considerable weight gap between the Top 3 lifters and the rest of the opponents. As we expected, the supposed leaders secured their positions at the top of the category’s rating.

Venezuelan Julio Ruben Mayora Pernia showed only the first good lift of 145 kg. But, his next attempts to snatch 150 kg failed, which brought him sixth place in Snatch.

Javadov Omar from Azerbaijan, an athlete from Group B, became fifth in this battle who didn’t show impressive lifts. He had two ‘no lift’ tries of 145 kg, but he managed to push 146 kg at the last attempt.

Tojonirina Alain Andriantsitohaina from Madagascar was quite unconfident today: all his attempts of lifting 147 kg finally finished with success that brought him fourth spot in the rating.

Clean & Jerk

The contest in the Clean & Jerk discipline started with a weight of 165 kg.

• 6: OZBEK Muhammed Furkan – 180 kg
• 5: MOSQUERA LOZANO Luis Javier – 180 kg
• 4: YOKUBOV Doston – 182 kg

52 % of all attempts in this exercise were successful which is a below-average rate.

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

• 🥇Name 1: WICHUMA Weeraphon – 189 kg
• 🥈MAYORA PERNA Julio Ruben – 188 kg
• 🥉SUHAREVS Ritvars -185 kg

The bronze medal holder was Ritvars Suharevs who did 175 kg at the first attempt, 180 kg was the second lift, and finished with 185 kg. By the way, he was focused and confident during his performance: he showed great lifts at all attempts.

Julio Ruben Mayora Pernia secured silver with 181 kg at the start, 186 kg was his second try, and 188 kg at a final. It was just 1 kilo behind the leader. Although he didn’t improve his Olympic jerk of 190 kg he performed in Tokyo. Nevertheless, 3 kilo margin between him and Suharevs secured him second spot in this session.

The Clean & Jerk winner was Wichuma Weeraphon from Thailand who did 182 kg at the first attempt, then 187 kg, and 189 kg on the third attempt. If to compare his lifts in this exercise, his best was at the Worlds in Riyadh by 195 kg, which is 6 kg more than today’s result.

Clean & Jerk Results

Speaking about the leaders of this round, we can admit that Top 3 athletes displayed proper technique and mastery. Each team made such a gradual increase of the ordered lifts, enabling the lifters to perform them decently.

What about the Snatch winner, Shi Zhiyong, he did only his first attempt of 180 kg and refused to do the rest tries. Such a decision resulted for Shi in the 8th spot in this round.

The rest of the places were occupied by athletes from Group B: Ozbek Muhammed Furkan from Turkey was 6th with 180 kg, and Mosquera at the 5th place with the same 180 kg. Jokubov Doston from Uzbekistan jerked 182 kg and became 4th.

Total Results

• 1 SUHAREVS Ritvars – 341 kg 
• 2 SHI Zhiyong – 340 kg
• 3 WICHUMA Weeraphon – 334 kg 
• 4 MAYORA PERNA Julio Ruben – 333 kg 
• 5 MOSQUERA LOZANO Luis Javier – 330 kg 
• 6 YOKUBOV Doston  – 327 kg

So, let’s rename our Top 3 athletes who deserved being on the winning podium:

The gold medalist in the category was Latvian Ritvars Suharevs with a total of 341 kg. It was his second best lift in his career after the bronze win with 354 kg at the European Championships in Batumi.

The silver medalist became Shi Zhiyong from China due to the total result of 340 kg. Even his only one lift in Clean & Jerk session didn’t hinder him to rank second. But, such a result is one of the lowest in his professional career. Just to remind you: his best total was 364 kg, which is a current World Record.

The third place moved to the Thai weightlifter Wichuma Weeraphon who did 334 kg in total. He also didn’t show his best and got 8 kilos less compared to his previous lowest weight in totals.

Final Point

This evening’s performance in the category showed us that big weights and pure power are nothing without inner strength, mental stability, and high resilience while being set directly to big goals.

Finally we witnessed the victory of the European lifter, Ritvars Suharevs from Latvia who proved his excellent physical and mental resilience. He managed to surpass his Chinese rival by 1 kilo that made him today’s hero. He succeeded in collecting gold, silver and bronze in all rounds.

While other titled athletes managed to secure their top positions in the 73-kg division.

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Dive deep with our Media Team into the world of professional weightlifting! Stay strong and remember – warm body cold mind!