On Friday, July 12, 2024, Bulgarian phenom Karlos Nasar posted his latest feat of strength to social media — a 185-kilogram, or 407.8-pound snatch, three kilograms above the official 89-kilogram world record.
Nasar has spent the last three months leading up to the 2024 Olympics signaling to his adversaries that the Men’s 89-kilogram event will be a battle for silver.
But his latest achievement got us thinking. Does Nasar also have the strength to win gold in the heavier 102-kilogram category?
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Let’s look at Nasar’s latest streak of weightlifting achievements and compare his unofficial records with the best offerings in the 89- and 102-kilogram categories. Nasar might have enough gas in the tank to win Olympic gold in two of five Men’s events in Paris.
Karlos Nasar: The Favorite
When the qualification period for the 2024 Olympics began in 2022, Nasar was in the conversation; but only just. Paris qualification kicked off in earnest with the International Weightlifting Federation’s (IWF) 2022 World Weightlifting Championships. Yet it was Nasar’s longtime rival and Tokyo 81-kilogram bronze medalist Antonino Pizzolato who was, at the time, the talk of the town.
Pizzolato hit an inaugural 217-kilogram clean & jerk world record at the 2022 European Weightlifting Championships. Two years on, and that record now belongs to Nasar, who has advanced it nearly singlehandedly to 223 kilograms.
Now-retired weightlifter Tian Tao is the only 89-kilogram athlete to contend with Nasar’s capabilities in the clean & jerk between Tokyo and Paris. Tao briefly sniped the 222-kilogram record from Nasar in Aug. 2023.
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When the qualification period for Paris wrapped shortly after the IWF World Cup in early summer, Nasar was on top of the world but officially ranked at number two on the 89-kilogram leaderboards behind Tao’s countryman (and still the official Total record owner) Li Dayin.
Dayin would not be selected to represent Team China in weightlifting at the 2024 Olympics. Fans speculate his absence is due to both inconsistent performances on the international stage and, more believably, Nasar’s more consistent progress.
With less than a month until the weightlifting events in Paris, Nasar has published a slew of would-be record-setting performances:
Three unofficial world records from the Bulgarian National Weightlifting Championships.
A 230-kilogram clean & jerk attempt, which he has publicly tried several times since.
226 kilograms in the clean & jerk at a multi-sport event in Germany.
Nasar either weighed above 89 kilograms, partook in events not recognized by the IWF, or hit these lifts in non-competition settings. As such, none of them stand as official records. And yet…
Can Karlos Nasar Win Gold in Two Different Weight Classes?
We think so. It’s hypothetical, of course, but Nasar’s 185-kilogram snatch, coupled with his 226-kilogram clean & jerk, gives him a training Total of 411 kilograms. Let’s put that in context:
The 96-kilogram Total world record stands at 416 kilograms, held by modern great (and now-retired) weightlifter Sohrab Moradi of Iran.
In the 102-kilogram division, the Total world record belongs to China’s Liu Huanhua, who holds it at 413 kilograms.
The 96-kilogram division won’t be showcased at Paris 2024 as a consequence of weightlifting’s bureaucratic failures to police anabolic steroid usage among its athletes.
But the 102-kilogram category will. And while Huanhua stands atop that class’s qualification leaderboard, Nasar’s 411 ranks him quite impressively in the heavier division:
Men’s 102 Kilogram Leaderboard | 2024 Olympics
Liu Huanhua (CHN) — 413KG
Garik Karapetyan (ARM) — 401KG
Meso Hassona (QAT) — 400KG
Akbar Djuraev (UZB) — 400KG
Yauheni Tsikhantsou (AIN) — 400KG
Jang Yeonhak (KOR) — 399KG
Lesman Paredes Montano (COL) — 398KG
Davranbek Hasanbayev (TKM) — 392KG
Irakli Chkheidze (GEO) — 391KG
Don Opeloge (SAM) — 391KG
In Context: Nasar may have put together a few of 400-plus performances ahead of Paris, but his IWF-recognized best Total at 89 kilograms stands at 396.
If Nasar could string together a snatch and clean & jerk that matched his gym personal records, he would have a real shot at dislodging Huanhua, who will arrive in Paris as the presumptive 102-kilogram gold medalist.
So, could Nasar theoretically win gold in two different Olympic events this August? Maybe, were he not subjected to a weight cut for the 89-kilogram class (and were it possible to win two Olympic medals at the same event in the first place).
Nasar would be a safe bet for a podium position on a good day and is strongly favored in the 89s.
History Repeats?
Nasar’s trajectory somewhat mirrors that of men’s weightlifting’s last modern prodigy—Kazakhstan’s Ilya Ilyin. Ilyin originally won two gold medals in 2008 and 2012 in the now-defunct 94-kilogram class. He bagged his first Olympic Champion title at age 20. Nasar is also 20.
Ilyin would go on to bulk up into the heavier 105-kilogram class, where in 2015, he would set the final world records in the clean & jerk (246 kilograms) and Total (437 kilograms) before the division was abolished in 2018.
Weightlifting historians can see the parallels in the careers of Nasar and Ilyin taking shape. If Nasar wins it all in Paris, we may well see him move up to a heavier class ahead of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles with the intent of winning gold there, too.
Nasar is slated to compete in the Men’s 89-kilogram event at the 2024 Olympic Games at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024.
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