Talakhadze, 28, had successfully made 47 consecutive lifts going into the super-heavyweight contest in Tirana, Albania, that brought to an end the 100^th European Championships.

He made all three snatches to reach the 50 mark, and his first clean and jerk of 245kg made it 51.

Then he went up to 253kg and, for the first time since the 2018 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships, he failed.

It made no difference to the result, but it seems that the multiple world record holder, Olympic champion and world champion might need some recovery time.

This was his fourth contest in 14 months, the most intense period of competition in his entire career, and with both knees very heavily taped and strapped, and evidence of pain in his right wrist, he will welcome the fact that his next appearance is likely to be six months away, at the 2022 IWF World Championships.

He declined to take his final lift, having already secured victory.

If Talakhadze has persistent problems, the man most likely to take advantage is today’s runner-up, the young Armenian Varazdat Lalayan.

He missed three of his six attempts but for the second straight competition, Lalayan finished ahead of his older team-mate Gor Minasyan, a perennial silver medallist behind Talakhadze over the years.

Talakhadze made 217-245-462, his second-lowest total in the past four years, while Lalayan had 211-240-451 and Minasyan, who also made only three good lifts, registered 210-236-446.

Bulgaria won the medals table by some distance, finishing with five gold medals on total, one silver and two bronzes.

Their champions in the latter part of the Championships were David Fischerov at 102kg and Hristo Hristov at 109kg.

Fischerov, who competed for Austria as David Fischer before controversially deciding to switch nationality in 2019, made a career-best 177-215-392 - a better total than Hristov in the heavier category.

Fischerov, 23, made his final attempt to overtake Samvel Gasparyan of Armenia, who made 176-214-390.

Marcos Ruiz landed another medal for Spain, whose team has performed well in Tirana, with bronze on 176-208-384.

Hristov won the 109kg category with 180-211-391 ahead of Giorgi Chkheidze of Georgia, who went up 8kg to 218kg for his final attempt at glory but failed, finishing 174-210-384.

The Armenian bronze medallist Arsen Martirosyan made a total of 371kg, which would have been good enough for only sixth place in the 102kg contest.

Armenia had a 1-2 finish in the 96kg, where Davit Hovhannisyan made 171-206-377 to finish ahead of compatriot Ara Aghanyan, who missed his final attempt and made 170-205-375.

Romain Imadouchene of France was third on 160-210-370.

The Ukrainian Maksym Dombrovskyi, a winner at the recent IWF Junior World Championships at 89kg, was fourth with a career-best total of 369kg.

Fifth place went to Moldova’s Tudor Bratu, a silver medallist at the Junior World Championships at 96kg, who made 361kg after failing with three of his attempts.

France had a wide-margin winner in the women’s 76kg, as Marie Fegue finished 23kg clear of the Latvian Daniela Ivanova, with Turkey’s Dilara Ucan third,

Fegue made five from six for 110-135-245.

Ukraine took the women’s 81kg when Iryna Dekha made all six attempts for 116-137-253, a career-best total in her first competition in the category.

Her team-mate Alina Marushchak was second with 235kg and Dilara Narin of Turkey third on 232kg.