Jan Lostowski (Poland) Sets a World Record in Berlin
History in Color:
April 6, 1976, Berlin, East Germany – Jan Lostowski, 25-year old lightweight of Team Poland, snatches 139kg in his 4th attempt and sets a new world record in the 67.5kg weight class at the 1976 European Championships in East Berlin.
Jan Lostowski (1951-2009) of Wroclaw, Poland was one of the most promising Polish feather and lightweight athletes in the late 1970s.
Lostowski set his amazing snatch world record shown on our History in Color feature photo while competing in Group B of the 67.5kg class at the 1976 European Championships in East Berlin. He snatched 139kg and beat the previous record of Roberto Urrutia (Cuba) by 0.5kg. Needless to say, the record didn’t stay long and was broken a few hours later that night when Jan’s teammate Zbigniew Kaczmarek snatched 139.5kg for Poland in Group A.
By the end of the night in Berlin, Jan Lostowski won a silver European medal with a 302.5kg (132.5+170) total.
Less than 2 months later, Lostowski represented Poland in the 60kg weight class at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and failed in 3 attempts at 120kg in snatch opener.