 Yury competed in the middle-heavyweight (90 kg), sub-heavyweight (100 kg) and heavyweight (110 kg) weight classes during his career.Yuri Zakharevich has been described as one of the most technically gifted weightlifters of all time.In his analysis of the snatch technique of Yuri Zakharevich, the biomechanist Robert Roman said that "Zakharevitch raised the barbell in the snatch to "the minimal possible height of the lift lifters of his height can raise a barbell and still successfully fix it overhead."