Men’s 89 kg
This group was a battle between Revaz Davitadze (Georgia), who had huge home support, and Hakob Mkrtchyan (Armenia). Davitadze already held the World Junior snatch and total records going into this competition while Mkrtchyan won gold at the 2018 European U23 Championships.
Revaz Davitadze took the early advantage, making all three snatches to end up with 170. This opened up a 6kg lead over his rival, who missed his final lift was left with 164. This allowed Maksim Mudreuski (Belarus) and Mkrtchyan’s teammate Davit Hovhannisyan into the snatch medals. Mkrtchyan was shut out on the snatch and would have to rely on his big clean and jerk if he wanted to come away with any reward.
On clean and jerks, leader Revaz Davitadze managed 200 to set a 370 total. Everyone abandoned plans for the gold and focused on trying for less medals, apart from Mkrtchyan, who waited until everyone but Krenar Shoraj (Albania) was done to open at 201. He hit this with a convincing jerk that was part squat, part power. That secured the clean and jerk gold. Then he came out again to silence the Georgian crowd by hitting 207 for the total win.
Mkrtchyan set a new European U23 clean and jerk record with his 207. One kilo more would have taken the total record as well and he had an attempt let, but he declined it.
Davitadze had to be satisfied with snatch gold, clean and jerk and total silvers and a European U23 snatch record.
Women’s 76 kg
Lidia Valentin (Spain) came into this competition as the four-time European champion (as well as Olympic and two-time World champion) and she made a strong start to her title defence. Her best snatch of 108 was enough for a two kilo lead over her nearest rival Darya Naumava (Belarus). Sadly Gaelle Ketchanke (France) injured herself badly on her third snatch attempt, having to be stretchered from the platform. It was later revealed that she broke an arm in two places. She did come away with the snatch bronze with her 103 opener.
On the clean and jerks, the remaining snatch medalists were the only two lifters that looked in contention for the total gold. Patricia Strenius (Sweden) won herself a clean and jerk bronze with power cleans but it was down to Valentin and Naumava to determine who would win gold and silver. Valentin looked favourite after hitting 133 on her second attempt to open up a four kilo total lead but Naumava had other ideas. She made a five kilo jump to 136. Valentin raised her third attempt to match – she wanted the Belarusian to finish lifting first. Naumava made the lift at 136, meaning Valentin would need to match it on the last lift of the competition to take gold. She missed, so Darya Naumava won her first international gold medal.
Records
- Revaz Davitadze (Georgia) – M89 European U23 snatch 170
- Hakob Mkrtchyan (Armenia) – M89 European U23 clean and jerk 207
6/6
- Revaz Davitadze (Georgia) – M89 Silver
- Darya Naumava (Belarus) – W76 Gold
- Hermana Dermicek (Croatia) W76 B
- Natia Gadelia (Georgia) W76 B
- Armands Mezinskis (Latvia) M89 B
Medal Table
Romania remain at the top of the table despite winning no medals today. Belarus move up above Italy after a strong showing.
| All Medals | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Romania | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| Turkey | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Belarus | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Italy | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Bulgaria | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Latvia | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Russia | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| Georgia | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Armenia | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| France | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Poland | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Spain | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Albania | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Great Britain | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Germany | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sweden | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Israel | 0 | 0 | 1 |