Lasha Talakhadze scoops three gold medals at Roma 2020 Weightlifting World Cup

Georgia's multiple world champion and record-breaking weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze left the Roma 2020 Weightlifting World Cup with three gold medals, sweeping the honours in the 109+ kg category a the competition that concluded on Friday.

The top-scoring athlete was first in both snatch and clean-and-jerk sections in the contest held at the PalaPellicone venue in the Italian capital.

In the former category Talakhadze was on top with 215 kilos, finishing ahead of Antoniy Savchuk of Russia (184kg) and Austria's Sargis Martiorsjan (181).

The Georgian followed with 255kg in clean-and-jerk, again ahead of Savchuk (228) and New Zealand's David Liti (215).

The combined result of 470 saw the four-time world title-winning weightlifter classified ahead of Savchuk with 412 and Israel's David Litvinov on 393.

Talakhadze boasts the world record in both categories with 220 and 264kg in snatch and clean-and-jerk respectively and a combined 484kg.

His result follows eight medals from other athletes competing in Rome under the Georgian flag. Three gold medals were added to team coffers courtesy of Anton Pliesnoi (96kg), with three silver medals from Shota Mishvelidze (61kg) and two bronze from Goga Chkheidze (67kg).

The World Cup event ran at the PalaPellicone between January 27-31.