With the retirement of Halil Mutlu, it was assumed that Europe would be far behind the top Asian weightlifters in the men’s 56-kg category, but tonight Valentin Hristov proved that assumption wrong.


Valentin Hristov races under 155 kg: he won all three gold medals in the 56-kg category at the 2012 European Weightlifting Championships.  IronMind® | Randall J. Strossen photo.


Only 18 years old, the former Bulgarian who now represents Azerbaijan ended the evening with a 125-kg snatch and a 155-kg clean and jerk: he went six-for-six, swept the gold medals and broke all three Junior European records.  Not a bad night’s work.


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