European Championships: More records for Nasar, Koanda is top female and Iceland has its first winner
Olympic champions Karlos Nasar and Solfrid Koanda were the top individual performers at the 2025 European Championships in Chishinau, Moldova which finished this week.
Seven other Paris Olympians were among the winners. The men were Nasar’s Bulgaria team-mate Ivan Dimov at 61kg, the Individual Neutral Athlete Yauheni Tsikhantsou from Belarus at 102kg and two Armenians – Garik Karapetyan at 109kg and Varazdat Lalayan in the super-heavyweights. The women were Mihaela Cambei from Romania at 49kg and super-heavyweight Emily Campbell from Great Britain.
Nasar, who will be 21 next month, moved up in weight to the 96kg category and broke the snatch world record within six minutes of his first lift. The Bulgarian also claimed the record on total, which had been set by Sohrab Moradi from Iran in 2018. He won by 38kg on 188-229-417, despite weighing in more than 2.5kg under the limit.
Karlos Nsar (BUL) – Photo credit: ewf.sport
Nasar was a clear winner in the Robi points rankings. Three of the top six came from a high-quality 102kg session – Tsikhantsou, Marcos Ruiz from Spain, who continues his improvement after a serious injury ruined his Olympic qualifying hopes, and Tudor Bratu from Moldova.
Yusuf Fehmi Genc, whose 348kg at 73kg put him fourth in the rankings, was one of three winners for Turkiye alongside Kaan Kahriman and Cansu Bektas.
Bulgaria also had three – Nasar, Dimov and Angel Rusev – while Armenia (Lalayan and Karapetyan), Romania (Cambei and Andreea Cotruta), Italy (Oscar Reyes and Genna Toko Kegne) and Great Britain (Campbell and Sarah Davies) had two each. Romania also had its heaviest medallist on total since 1984 when Luis Rodriguez finished third at 109kg.
There was a first ever European Championships victory for Iceland when Eyglo Sturludottir got the better of Zarina Gusalova, an Individual Neutral Athlete from Russia, at 71kg.
It was a phenomenal effort by Eyglo, who is studying to become a doctor: Iceland’s population is 390,000 compared with Russia’s 143 million. Eyglo’s 244kg total was higher than all the athletes in the 76kg and 81kg sessions, and the top three at 71kg – Eyglo, Gusalova and the Individual Neutral Athlete from Belarus Siuzanna Valodzka – were second, third and fifth in the individual rankings.
The top five finishers at 55kg were all ranked in the top 10 on Robi points. Garance Rigaud from France was the winner.
Moldova, which did a very good job of hosting the Championships for the first time, had its first female continental champion when Elena Erighina ended a run of narrow defeats at 81kg.
Women’s 87kg medallists: winner Solfrid Koanda (NOR, back row, in the centre) – Photo credit: ewf.sport
Koanda, who declined her last two attempts after making 267kg, was winning her fourth straight continental title for Norway, while for Britain’s Campbell it was five in a row.
Koanda has been training in Germany under the guidance of Almir Velagic. He is a key figure with Sport Director Michael Vater in building a “new generation” German team, as well as working with Koanda.
Vater said, “Having Solfrid training with us is good for her and good for our team. The younger lifters look up to her, and she benefits from being in a group rather than training on her own. It makes for a good atmosphere.”
Germany’s new team started well in Chisinau, where Raphael Friedrich won at 89kg. Roberto Gutu and Kiara Klug also excelled as Germany won three golds, three silvers and four bronzes.
By Brian Oliver