Last chance at gold for Armenians on the final day of the 2025 Weightlifting World Championships

On October 11, in Førde, Norway, the final competitive day of the 2025 Weightlifting World Championship will be held. Today the last sets of medals will be decided — in the men’s +110 kg and women’s +86 kg categories.

For the Armenian national team this is the final chance to claim a “major” medal of the tournament. So far the team has only two small medals — silver by Gor Saakyan and bronze by Garik Karapetyan, both in the snatch.

The main hopes for Armenia rest on Varazdat Lalayan, the reigning world champion in the superheavyweight class. Joining him on the platform will be Gor Minasyan, now representing Bahrain, but still training under Armenian coaches. Both have declared the same total weight — 460 kg — and predictions point to their direct duel as the key fight for gold.

They will face competition from Iranian Ali Davoudi and Ayat Sharifi (each 440 kg), but the other participants lag significantly behind the leaders in their declared totals.

After the retirement of the legendary Lasha Talakhadze, 26-year-old Lalayan has risen as the new star of global weightlifting. A year ago he won the world championship, when Minasyan was unable to compete due to injury. Now the Armenian showdown promises to be a highlight of the entire tournament.

Declared entry weights (men’s +110 kg):

TURMANIDZE Bakari (Georgia) — 410
LALAYAN Varazdat (Armenia) — 460
WILLIAMS Aaron Andrew (USA) — 412
DAVOUDI Ali (Iran) — 440
LEE Yangjae (Korea) — 410
ALNAJJAR M Moayad M (UAE) — 406
SONG Yeonghwan (Korea) — 410
LITI David Andrew (New Zealand) — 411
MINASYAN Gor Tigran A. (Bahrain) — 460
SHARIFIKELARIJANI Ayat (Iran) — 440

The group A competition in the +110 kg weight class will begin at 18:00 Yerevan time (17:00 Moscow time).

A live broadcast will be available in the Telegram channel Sportaran..