BAKU: Egyptian weightlifter Mohamed Mahmoud eased to victory in the men's under-77 kilogram category in Baku on Tuesday to claim his country's fourth gold of the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games.
Mahmoud was in a class of his own throughout the event, which he won with a Games record total of 348 kg, 28 kg clear of the rest of the field.
He was always likely to be too good for his fellow competitors as his starting weights were significantly higher, and he began his bid for the title after all the other athletes had already bowed out of the snatch.
The 27-year-old, who broke the African snatch record while winning bronze at last summer's Rio Oympics, made his first attempt at 152 kg look simple to set a new Solidarity Games best.
He extended that mark by another six kilograms, which put him 12kg clear of nearest rival Celil Erdogdu going into the clean and jerk.
One Iraqi supporter almost exploded in delight, to the amusement of the arena, when Ahmed Farooq Ghulam Al-Hussein all but secured a medal with a lift of 178 kg.
But Mahmoud stepped up knowing that a successful 180-kg opening clean and jerk would secure gold and more Games records.
He picked that weight up without breaking sweat, before giving the crowd even more to cheer by lifting 190 kg.
Al-Hussein ended up with the silver, while Turkey's Erdogdu completed the podium.