Armenia, Türkiye dominate – and celebrations for Greece and Malta at European Juniors

Armenia had seven winners, including the top individual performers for men and women, at the European Junior Championships in Raszyn, Poland which ended at the weekend.

Türkiye, whose nine medals were more than any other European nation at the World Junior Championships in León, Spain six weeks ago, also performed well. Four of its five winners in Raszyn were men.

Other nations with cause to celebrate included Greece, which had the best youth athlete, and Malta. “This was a proud moment in our weightlifting history”, said national coach and federation president Jesmond Caruana after Malta had its first ever continental junior medals.

Tenishia Thornton (MLT)

In the concurrent Under-23 Championships, Iceland had the top female performer and, for the first time ever, two athletes on the podium in the same competition. Türkiye and Armenia – for whom Garik Karapetyan made a career-best total – also did well in this age group, which is exclusive to Europe.

Aleksandra Grigoryan, a bronze medallist in León and senior European champion this year, made five good lifts after failing with her first snatch attempt to register a wide-margin win for Armenia in the Junior 55kg. Her final clean and jerk of 115kg left 19-year-old Grigoryan 12kg clear on 85-115-200, a career-best performance that put her top of the individual rankings. It was 4kg more than her senior winning total.

Narek Mkrtchyan (ARM)

Narek Mkrtchyan’s 150-191-341 in a high-quality 81kg session, in which the top three were all aged 18, was good enough to top the men’s Robi points rankings. The two other medallists, Ravin Almammadov from Azerbaijan on 151-187-338, and Levan Ochigava from Georgia on 151-181-332, were second and fourth respectively in the overall individual rankings.

Three other women and two men won for Armenia. Apart from Grigoryan and Mkrtchyan, the best was Anna Amroyan, whose 228kg total at 76kg was third best in the women’s Robi rankings. Amroyan, 81kg winner Emma Poghosyan and men’s super-heavyweight silver medallist Ashot Movsisyan had all, like Grigoryan, won medals in León.

Kaan Kahriman (TUR)

Türkiye’s top performer on Robi points was Kaan Kahriman, a multiple world and continental medallist at 67kg. Kahriman, ranked third in the individual list, was 16kg clear at halfway and declined his last two attempts after reaching a winning total of 300kg, well below his best.

Malta’s best ever results came from Kim Camilleri, third at 49kg, and Tenishia Thornton, who won at 64kg on 89-112-201 despite being unwell.

“Tenishia is known for her fighting spirit,” said Caruana. “She was suffering from the flu, which made it difficult for her to breathe even without exertion. Despite this she still managed to deliver a strong performance. These results make us very proud.”

The youngest winner was 16-year-old Maria Stratoudaki from Greece, who made 73-96-169 for a wide-margin success at 49kg. She broke the European youth clean and jerk record.

Boyana Kostadinova from Bulgaria, also 16, had a youth record total of 149kg when she finished second to Ezgi Kilic from Turkey at 45kg. Irakli Vekua from Georgia, 17, made only one good snatch but took the +102 youth clean and jerk record with 200kg.

Szymon Ziolkowski from Poland, the super-heavyweight champion, also made a 200kg clean and jerk in his total of 371kg. Ziolkowski was one of two winners for the home nation, the other being Monika Marach with a total of 228kg in the women’s 71kg.

Tiberiu Donose (ROU)

Tiberiu Donose from Romania was fifth best in the Robi rankings after winning for a second straight year at 73kg. His 148-170-318 was 5kg down on his performance in León, where he finished second.

Ertjan Kofsha, the Albanian teenager who also won a medal in León, had career-best numbers across the board on 162-192-354 in the 96kg contest, but that was not enough to beat Enes Celik from Turkey, who made 161-194-355 before declining his final attempt.

In the Under-23s Garik Karapetyan, who was fourth at 102kg at the Paris Olympics, went up in weight to win at 109kg with a career-high total. Weighing in at 106.4kg, Karapetyan made 182-220-402. He finished 27kg clear and achieved the highest Sinclair score of the week, but was second on Robi points to Yusuf Fehmi Genc from Turkey.  

The joy of the Icelandic team – Photo credit: ewf.sport 

Genc never weighed more than 70kg in his unsuccessful attempt to qualify for Paris at 73kg. Back at 67kg for the first time in two years, he made 144-176-320.

Iceland had the winner and bronze in the women’s 71kg, Eyglo Sturlodottir and Gudny Stefansdottir. Eyglo, who studies medicine, made 104-133-237 and has improved her best total by 24kg in two years.

By Brian Oliver