Elite Snatch Technique Tier List Part 2 (S&A Tier Special)

Oh my god! Okay, it's happening! Stay f***ing calm! Remember, you never lose. Don't turn your back on me. I won't be ignored. I can't fail. Don't turn your back on me. I won't be ignored. I won't fail. Alright, welcome to the second part of the snatch technique tier list. In the last part I got so many elite lifters that I just thought the tier list might get a wheelchair when there are so many S and A tier lifters. So I decided to do a separate S and A tier special video about these other lifters quickly before we start. This is not a top 10 Sinclair performance snatch video. It's just subjective, a fun video about snatch aesthetic, the rhythm, the performance, the story behind their snatch. You can just comment if you would have ranked someone differently, but keep in mind it's not strictly about performance. But there will come such a video in the future. Alright, let's start with Yurik Vardanyan. He was a Soviet weightlifter. He was the 1980 Olympic champion and a multiple, multiple European and world champion. And many regard him as the most athletic, talented and efficient lifters of all time. And he's also among overall the best weightlifters of all time. His snatch looked super unique. He started the snatch with super low hips and then raised them immediately in somewhat like an S curve. And was then in a great position to initiate the second pull. And the most unique thing about him was the super soft contact of the hip which resulted in an extremely close and strict bar path. And the hip contact of course for everyone who also tried the snatch is just that very weird balance of trying to explode as hard as you can. But also not launching the bar forward with the hip contact which is just the most difficult thing I think in the snatch to have this balance. And yeah, he was just so disciplined and so close. It makes me question how I approach the hip contact. But on the other hand it's just so. Yeah, that's why I love weightlifting. All these different nationalities, athletes and coaches how they approach the technique that of course has these standardized positions that we should hit. But still so many people approach it differently with different cues and also different variations like the Armenians train so much the no contact snatch. And this almost looks like a no contact snatch because they probably get so strong in this movement pattern and so on. Yeah, that's just what I love about weightlifting that we see so many different beautiful, efficient, rough style of techniques. And so many people have success with it. So anyway, he put up insane numbers with this technique. And I talked about this in the first part with the Dolega family but I think here it's even more apparent. And I think it's so cool and sweet and wholesome how similar the snatch technique of his son Norik is. It's also this soft hip contact, this super close bar path, always catching the bar in the hole and balancing it and only then standing up. And he was also a great snatcher. I think he even snatched 180 as a 94 in training. So also very elite. And if that wouldn't be enough for this family, the wife of Norik Vardanyan, Jenny Vardanyan also has elite snatch technique. She also was an Olympian. And yeah, I think the whole family, the story behind it and the technique itself just deserves to be S-tier. Yuri Zakharevich was also a Soviet weightlifter who not only dominated his time being a heavyweight but will probably dominate this weight class for all time. We now have the exact same weight class like when he was an active lifter, the 110kg weight class. And I love the current roster of heavyweights. They are so great lifters. I love watching them. I'm looking forward to the world championships and they are just insane. But he still wipes the floor with all of them in both lifts but especially in the snatch. He is the heaviest member of the very exclusive club of snatching 100kg above your own bodyweight. And I think the most inspirational thing is that he suffered the most traumatic injury you can have as a weightlifter, especially for the snatch. Because he dislocated his elbow in the catch for the snatch. And to even come back to the sport after this is crazy. To come back to 100% of your old performance is almost unheard of. But snatching 2.5kg more than before is just legendary. Little fun fact, my coach was in the audience when this happened. It was in Hungary. He told me that everyone thought he's the rising star but that's probably it. Not even that long after that he came back and just crushed world record after world record. Incredible career and of course his snatch isn't as beautiful or aesthetically pleasing as the other lifters in this list. But the story behind it and also what I think is very fascinating especially at his bodyweight and also the weight of the bar that he's snatching. Is that I rarely see someone pulling so little and still being able to get under the bar and stabilizing it. Because usually I feel like lifters need a couple more centimeters to pull under the bar and then stabilizing it. Because otherwise it just crashes on them but he made it possible. And although it doesn't really fit the criteria that I just said about the tier list he still is an S tier for me. Usually I feel like we have very aggressive lifters like Mohamed Ehab or Abdou Yones. Or very calm technically proficient lifters like Li Fabin who are very precise and silent. But Jeezy Yong somehow combined aggression with the very precise technical Chinese model of snatching. And he became an unbeatable force in the snatch in a very strong and competitive generation of 69 and 73 kg weightlifters. His 169 kg snatch at 73 kg is actually better than the golden age of weightlifting in the 70s, 80s and 90s. No one was this good in the snatch. I think the all time world record in the old 75 kg weight class is 170. So it is Sinclair a bit better than that which is crazy in our generation to be better than them for various reasons. And I thought that his back problems only came towards the end of his career. But a couple of months ago I watched a lot of his stuff and there I learned that his back problems were just there the entire career. That he stood before retirement multiple times I think even in 2014 already or something or 2015. So it was a career full of pain and he still was such a great snatcher. And he usually won the gold in the snatch and was so far in front that it was just very difficult to catch him in the clean and jerk. But yeah just a legend and S tier. Arsene Zlatev managed to achieve an incredible feat which is to be the best Bulgarian weightlifter of all time. Again that is a big feat if you think about the insane glory days of Bulgaria and the competition that he had. And yeah I feel like that a lot of people have the impression that the Bulgarian lifters have rough technique because of the brutal training especially back in the day. That they are not as technically developed as Russians or Chinese lifters or something because of their daily maximum attempts. But his technique was phenomenal. He is also part of an even more exclusive club which is to snatch more than 100kg than your bodyweight. He snatched 183kg at 82.5kg. And yeah for me especially for this time where I feel like for some athletes the snatch especially wasn't as advanced as it is today. He definitely had super advanced technique so S tier. And if we are already talking about Bulgarian weightlifters you can't miss on Stefan Botev. He was such a tank and still moved super athletic I think. And just yeah had this very balls to the walls approach. There is a video from Ironmind you can check it out I think he snatches. In this it's like in the training hall before a world championships and he I think he snatches 190 or more or tries to snatch 190 or more like 15 or 20 times in one session. So yeah he was just a badass overall and as I said much more athletic than you will think of him. So yeah A tier for me. Yeah Kuo is definitely again in the camp of controlled and smooth. Yeah it was such a joy especially when she was at her peak I think she was also at that time the best female weightlifter in the world. It was incredible to watch especially her snatch. It looked so effortless, so smooth, so matured and fine tuned and there is a great documentary from ATG. And if you listen to her coach and how passionate he talks about training and his approach to how she has to move and so on. It's clear why she moved so well. The training is very important not only the weight, the lightweight but you need to learn how to control yourself, your body and how to use less power to lift more weight. It's a good technique and good your mind. I'm very excited to see how she will continue her career but yeah these videos of her are just S tier technique. Okay before I talk about Ruslan I quickly want to again talk about technical models of nations. I talked about this a lot especially also in the last video and it's so cool to see these technical models how they are being teached across the whole country like for example the Russians. If we stay at the example for Russians you can really also see what this technical model is like. You can understand the technique, it is made to perfection just how you imagine a snatch to look like. But the Uzbek and Kazakhstan lifters for me often times have such an advanced technique that I don't even understand how they are doing it. It's always so I call it flowy. It really would interest me how they get the children to learn this technique. Do they have other cues before they lift than like for example the Russian lifters? Because it looks always so cool. I also talked in the last part about Nogizha Adilatuli. It's the same thing for me. But Ruslan also just has this otherworldly super advanced cool flowy technique in the snatch, in the clean for me even more. But that's another video. But yeah he's still for me also S-tier. Especially the old videos where he snatches 200+. But also the training hall videos how he moved like 80% or something like that looked so cool. Rebecca Ibrahim, formerly Rebecca Koa was like the rising star in weightlifting when I got into it. And her technique in the snatch always looked so pristine and almost unmissable. There's also one interview with ATG where she even talks about how she never misses in training. Talk about the last preparation like how many times did you miss? Did you miss? Never. I never miss. I miss very very very very rare. Maybe if I go to some attempt for a new record, new personal best, maybe I can miss because it's new weight. And I'm really looking forward how her comeback will unfold. The way she got her knees out during the pull, how fast her extension was and how locked in her overhead position was. It was always a pleasure to watch. So also S-tier. Everything S-tier. I actually really enjoy watching US lifters. The decentralized system makes everyone bringing something unique to the table. And some come from other sports and some grew up with their coach and became very good. But I think no American lifter that I've ever seen had such a mature, perfected, elite technique like Alex Lee. He combined great positions, great speed and a nice rhythm with his snatch. And I'm not sure but I think I saw in one video that I don't remember that he even went to South Korea on his own to perfect his technique. Apart from the American system. But yeah, I'm not 100% sure so you can correct me if I'm wrong. But if he did it, I think it definitely paid off. So yeah, A-tier for me. Well, what is there to say about the best weightlifter of all time? In our sport usually we have people with long arms or long limbs who excel in the snatch and have problems in the clean and jerk. Or people with very short limbs who have problems in the snatch and are great in the clean and jerk. But he somehow made his extremely unique proportions work also in the snatch. He just made it work for him. What I also find very interesting is that usually when people are so short or have such short legs, they are incredibly strong in the quads. Which is why they often pull very upright. But he still was almost parallel to the ground and stayed over the bar till the last moment. Which I rarely see with these shorter, usually clean and jerk specialist type lifters. So just incredible and yeah, he's the best. Ismailov is one of the fastest lifters of all time which always has a soft spot for me in the heart. And what I think is also pretty cool is that he has the same little hop forward than Ozbek right now who is also a Turkish lifter. So it would be very interesting if they had the same coach or if Ozbek watched Ismailov and tried to copy him. But very cool to see this Turkish lineage of a little hop before the snatch. And yeah, just the speed is insane. And maybe one of the only athletes to ever outsnatch Sheezy Yong with an extremely clutch 163 attempt. In that last tier list I talked about how incredible it is how Lasha is able to move as a super heavyweight. But Cheeky Chef doesn't move like a super heavyweight at all. He was so fast, so dynamic, so athletic. And people like him really make the case how cool a weight category up to 125 or 130 would be. Just these super athletic tanks. And he was just in general an incredible super heavyweight despite being so light. And I think his 211 snatch at his bodyweight is per Sinclair one of the best snatches. Which is just insane. So yeah, even with people like Lasha or Tatiana Kashirina just one of the best super heavyweight technicians I've ever seen. I always only knew Nico Vlad from the video where he snatches 200.5kg at 100kg bodyweight. Which again makes him part of the even more exclusive club of snatching over 100kg above your bodyweight. But I then found a training video that I will link in the description where it's just from the side how he trains the snatch. And there I really fell in love with his snatch again. Just like I talked about for some of the other lifters a super advanced snatch technique. In a time where I feel like a lot of even like super performing athletes just had a bit of a more rough style snatch. But yeah, he also just had S-tier technique for me. And I wish there was more footage of him but this training video is already pretty cool. And yeah, that's it for the second part. Maybe one day I will do a third part because there are still such great technicians that I couldn't cover. Because it would be too long like Luis Musquera or Dimas or Kaki or Abdullones or Jason Lopez. But yeah, as I said I will also in the future will do the most impressive format again. The idea was that I do like a lifetime goal in a lift and then I do the most impressive video afterwards. But till now I only have done the front squat lifetime goal. Why are we still here? Just to suffer? But yeah, I want to do these tier lists now as like a bit of a constant format on this channel. And the next tier list will not be about the snatch nor the clean. But it will be about your guys favorite or least favorite weightlifters drip. It would be cool if you guys would comment your favorite outfit of weightlifters. It can be both in training or in competition. Just comment something like 2005 Qatar Dimitrij Klokov competition or something like that. So yeah, this will just be a bit of a fun tier list. And yeah, if you like this channel you can also support it on Patreon. There I upload some behind the scenes and like a little some podcast episodes where you can just ask questions and I just ramble about them. And I also uploaded now some exclusive training footage. So yeah, in general if you just want to support the channel you can do it there. But if you just want to watch YouTube it's also cool. And yeah, I will see you in the next one.