Lifting in a small meet, Poland's Szymon Kolecki kicked off the year with a huge 195-kg snatch and a 240-kg clean and jerk, prompting informed speculation that he was on course to break the world record in the clean and jerk in the 105-kg category.

Unfortunately, the back problems that have been hampering what would otherwise be a brilliant weightlifting career recurred and Kolecki, at the moment at least, will not start at the upcoming European Weightlifting Championships (Kiev, Ukraine), saving himself, instead, for the Olympic Games this summer in Athens.