Antalya, Turkey—Things ended with a bang on Super Sunday the 2012 European Weightlifting Championships as Tatiana Kashirina (Russia) got things rolling in a big way on the women’s side as she took two cracks at the world record in the snatch and one at the clean and jerk world record.

Although she did not succeed, she served notice that she’s ready to take on all comers at the London Olympics as since this was the first time she weighed in over 100 kg, it suggests there’s more to come.

On the men’s side, there was no chance of world record performances, but that didn’t make things any less exciting as the top of the class was bunched together at a respectable level and the competition was tight.  In the end, Iraki Turmandidze (Georgia) won the gold medal in the snatch with 195 kg, beating Armenia’s Hayk Hakobyan on body weight.

With two attempts left in the clean and jerk, Matthias Steiner (Germany) took 239 kg to move into gold medal position in the jerk and in the total, but he missed the jerk—appearing hesitant for the blink of an eye as he dipped, perhaps being concerned about his left knee, which had recently undergone surgery.  Andrey Kozlov (Russia) had the last chance to for the gold medal in the jerk, but he missed 240 and held onto his bronze medal, while his teammate, Ruslan Albegov left with the gold medal in the jerk (238 kg) and in the total (429 kg).


                                                                           ###



Visit the IronMind Forum: talk strength, discuss this story.  Strongman, grip, Highland Games, Olympic lifting, stones and more. 

You can also follow IronMind on Twitter.