Tigran G. Martirosyan caused a few anxious minutes among fans around Armenia Thursday night as his first [gold-medal winning] attempt at clean and jerk was annulled by the panel of judges. Minutes later, however, the 22-year-old athlete from Gyumri was already holding a weight of 195 kilograms above his head to win the gold in the 77-kg section at the European Weightlifting Championships in Minsk, Belarus. In the snatch exercise the Armenian lifted 165 kg, which also gave him an overall victory in the division with the total result of 360 kg.

Poland’s Krzysztof Szramiak (351 kg) and Belarus’s Mikalai Cherniak (346 kg) won the second and third places, respectively.

Already unreachable for his rivals, the Gyumri weightlifter attempted a world record by ordering a weight of 205 kilograms in clean and jerk at his third approach. The double European champion and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, however, could not complete his world record breaking attempt, but still was cheered by his teammates and the crowd.

Earlier at the same championships in Belarus, Armenia’s 16-year-old Smbat Margaryan (56 kg) won silver in snatch, clean and jerk combination (109 kg +146 kg).