At the last competition of the European Championships in Tirana, Albania, very heavy loads were moved once again at the end. By far the heaviest weights in the women’s weight class over 87 kg were lifted by Emily Campbell from Great Britain. With 118 kg in the snatch, 153 kg in the clean and jerk and finally 271 kg in the total, she was crowned European champion three times and defended her title from last year at the European Championships in Moscow.
Second place also went to the same athlete three times. Melike Gunal from Turkey won the European silver medal three times with 108 kg, 143 kg and 242 kg in the total. Meanwhile, Sarah Fischer from Austria was rewarded with the bronze medal in both partial disciplines as well as in the overall ranking (102 kg, 128 kg, 230 kg). The 21-year-old had competed in the category up to 87 kg in Moscow last year and only finished seventh there.
Talakhadze lives up to role of favorite
Even though Lasha Talakhadze did not set a new world record at the European Championships this time, he still triumphed over all of them in the snatch, the clean and jerk, as well as the total. The Georgian first won the snatch with 217 kg against the two Armenians Varazdat Lalayan (211 kg) and Gor Minasyan (210 kg).
In the clean and jerk Talakhadze was able to lift the highest weight of the evening with 245 kg, but he failed in his second attempt with 253 kg and then missed his last attempt – obviously slightly banged up. Silver again went to Lalayan (240 kg) in the second Olympic discipline and third place went to Czech Jiri Orsag with a valid 237 kg from his third attempt.
With a lead of eleven kilograms over the second-placed Lalayan from Armenia (451 kg) Talakhadze also finished first in the total (462 kg). As in the snatch, the bronze medal was won by Armenian Minasyan (446 kg).
The athlete from Mutterstadt, Enzo Kuworge, could only score in the snatch (178/181x/183), the Dutchman failes three times at 230 kg in the clean and jerk.
The 100th European Championship is in the books
The ninth day of competition is over and this year’s and at the same time 100th European Weightlifting Championships comes to an end. There were some new world records, e.g. by the Italian Antonino Pizzolato and the German team was also happy about one or the other medal.
The next event on the international stage will be at the end of the year, when the World Championship will be held in Bogota, Colombia.
