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Sofia, Day 6: ‘You lifted the weights with me’ Nasar tells huge home crowd after record-breaking win

Karlos Nasar did not disappoint a European Championships sell-out crowd of 3,000 at Arena Sofia. “I love you all, you lifted the weights with me!” he told the noisy Bulgarian fans after winning the European 89kg title for a second time at the age of 19. Nasar broke his own junior world record in snatch and was within sight of his senior world record in clean and jerk with one attempt to come. The crowd roared when the number 224 went up on the board, but Nasar declined the attempt. “I had cramp,” he said. “But what a great day. I expected to win but this was so exciting because of the crowd.” Karlos Nasar (BUL) at the top of the podium at home Nasar made five good lifts for 176-215-391, which was 4kg lower than his best total in Olympic qualifying. He remains 1kg behind Li Dayin from China, who leads the Paris rankings on 396kg. A huge crowd in Sofia Among the many people who congratulated him before the medal ceremony was Blagoy Blagoev, one of the sport’s great names. Blagoev was IWF World Weightlifter of the Year twice in the early 1980s. He set 13 world records in snatch, the discipline in which he believes Nasar still needs to improve. “He surprised them in the snatch today, though,” Blagoev said. “They expected him to make 170. He was prepared for 224 in clean and jerk. The crowd wanted it and maybe he would have gone for it if this wasn’t an Olympic year, but it was a smart move to retire if he was cramping.   “Karlos is great for Bulgarian weightlifting after so many years of underachievement. But what we really need is a whole team, not just one world-class lifter.” Nasar with Bulgarian legend Blagoy Blagoev Second-placed Nino Pizzolato from Italy finished 170-210 from only two good lifts, equalling his best qualifying total. Olympic medallist Pizzolato went for a big one on his final attempt, 222kg, and although he failed he looked capable of improvement on only his second competition since a long-term back injury. Pizzolato said, “I went for 222 to try to bring the title home, but the real goal remains the Olympics and I will be ready.” Marin Robu from Moldova took bronze on total. He also appeared to be lifted by the crowd, making five from six and winning snatch silver on his way to a career-best 171-207-378. That 8kg improvement moved Robu from 12th to eighth in the rankings, a place ahead of the Armenian Andranik Karapetyan, who had a bad day in fifth place. Karapetyan made only two good lifts in totalling 365kg, down 12kg on his best qualifying effort. Another improver was Petr Asayonak, the individual neutral athlete from Belarus. Asayonak fought hard after missing his first two snatches, made a good save on his second clean and jerk and finished fourth on 167-207-374. After Karim Abokahla posted a good total at the African Championships, the upward moves by Robu and Asayonak have bumped Canada’s Boady Santavy down to 11th. Santavy is entered at the Pan American Championships in Venezuela next week. Nathan Damron from the United States lost ground when he bombed out in snatch. The Albanian Ertjan Kofsha, a junior world medallist last November, also bombed out in snatch. The women's 76kg podium An Italian newcomer took the women’s 76kg. Genna Toko made a 220kg total in winning the national championships two months ago, and improved on that to take a sweep of medals on her first international appearance. Toko, 21, originally from Cameroon but brought up in Tuscany, made 101-126-227 to win by 11kg. She failed with her final attempt at 131kg. Nicole Rubanovich from Israel declined final attempt on 99-117-216 in second place. Lara Dancz from Germany was third in her first senior international appearance on 101-114-215. There was a clean and jerk bronze for seventh-placed Laura Tolstrup from Denmark, who made 89-116-205. Laura Horvath, labelled “the fittest woman in the world” in CrossFit after winning the 2023 CrossFit Games, made two good lifts for 90-115-205. That was 5kg better than her only other total in international weightlifting three years ago. By Brian

Sofia, Day 5: Toma takes sixth European title as American Reeves’ perfect run ends

Loredana Toma from Romania won her sixth European title despite missing her last two attempts in the women’s 71kg at the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. The American Olivia Reeves, lifting as a guest and unable to win medals, made 14kg more than Toma. After three straight six-from-six performances Reeves missed three attempts and was 7kg lower than her best total in Olympic qualifying. Siuzanna Valodzka had a chance to overtake Toma on her final attempt at 137kg but barely got the bar above her knees. Toma and Valodzka, the individual neutral athlete from Belarus, were both well down on their best effort in the Paris rankings and remain fourth and ninth respectively. The celebration of the Romanian team The biggest move was by third-placed Lisa Marie Schweizer from Germany, up from 22nd to 15th. Schweizer was close to making all six lifts, losing only one for a press-out on a jury review. Team-mate Max Lang also had a ‘good lift’ overturned on review in the men’s 73kg on Thursday, and like Schweizer he is a few kilos outside the top 10. “I will have to analyse the video but I didn’t think it was a pressout,” said Schweizer, who improved her career-best snatch by 4kg, clean and jerk by 2kg and total by 6kg. She made 107-124-231 and will need at least 10kg more to make the top 10 in the final, the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand which ends on April 11. “I’ll go all in there,” she said. “I’m confident.” Lisa Marie Schweizer (GER) The two American guests would have finished first and third in an open contest. Reeves, 20, who is second in the rankings behind China’s Liao Guifang, finished on 115-140-255. She was close to making her final clean and jerk at 148kg, getting the bar above her head before losing it forwards. Meredith Alwine made all three clean and jerks for 98-135-233. Celia Gold has competed against the Americans in national competitions, and said she lifted against Alwine 10 years ago to the day. Today she won a medal for Israel. The dual-national took clean and jerk silver on 98-128-226, a rankings improvement of 4kg. “You’ll see more in Thailand,” she said. Celia Gold (ISR) Valodzka took gold in clean and jerk in her 105-130-235. Toma won snatch gold ahead of Valodzka and Schweizer, then finished fourth in clean and jerk on 114-127-241. Once again Toma weighed in well below the limit, this time on 68.96kg. Britain’s Sarah Davies was third in clean and jerk, finishing sixth on 98-128-226. Giulia Miserendino from Italy, who is 14th in the rankings, did not travel to Sofia after an injury flared up. She will lift in Phuket. Eyglo Sturludottir had a chance to improve her ranking and win a medal for Iceland, but missed her final two clean and jerks after a run of 19 straight good lifts in qualifying. She made 105-125-230. The Finnish teenager Janette Ylisoini improved her best ranking total by 5kg but remains outside the top 20. Ylisoini, 17, made 101-123-224.  Oscar Reyes from Italy completed an impressive hat-trick of major titles when he won the men’s 81kg, in which a B Group lifter took silver.Reyes declined his final attempt after making 155-191-346. He won the European title last April and became world champion in Saudi Arabia in September.Albania had a good day. Erkand Qerimaj took snatch silver in his 155-180-335, but the 35-year-old was eclipsed by team-mate Kristi Ramadani.Ramadani, 23, had not lifted since last year’s European Championships and was in the B Group. He made five good lifts for 151-190-341, taking silver in clean and jerk and total. It was 24kg more than his previous best.Rafik Harityunyan from Armenia was third on 154-182-336. By Brian

Sofia, Day 4: Bulgarian crowd roars record breaker Andreev to victory – and third place in Paris rankings

The Bulgarian Bozhidar Andreev had a large home crowd on their feet as he broke the continental clean and jerk record on his way to victory in an exciting men’s 73kg at the European Championships in Sofia.Andreev earned a huge cheer when he broke the record on 193kg with his final attempt, and the crowd roared again when he performed his trademark celebratory somersault. After missing his first snatch, Andreev made five good lifts for a sweep of golds on 155-193-348.That left him 12kg clear of Furkan Ozbek from Turkey, with last year’s winner Ritvars Suharevs from Latvia third. Both of them failed with two clean and jerks in a session that featured more no-lifts than good lifts. Men's 73kg podiumAndreev, 27, moved from seventh place to third in the Olympic rankings.“This was my first competition in Bulgaria, and what an experience,” he said. “The crowd was perfect for me, the support really helped.”Ozbek missed his first two clean and jerks after snatching 150kg for the first time in his career. He made 150-186-336, a 2kg improvement in the rankings that will take him to eighth place.Suharevs, who drops to fifth, was 10kg down on his best qualifying total, making 154-177-331.Mirko Zanni from Italy failed three times to make 183kg in clean and jerk, and will surely need to improve his 335kg best qualifying total to make it to Paris. He is 10th now, and vulnerable to improvers.There was a turnaround in the rankings for three nations – Germany, Albania and the United States, lifting here as guests - when the man in pole position was overtaken by a team-mate.Roberto Gutu from Germany went ahead of Max Lang when he won the B Group on 151-178-329. Lang needed his final lift and made it, only to lose it on jury review for bending and extending his elbow. That lift would have given Lang a six-from-six total of 333kg.Briken Calja had not made a single clean and jerk in qualifying before today, bombing out four times. He finally did it and moved from 63rd place, on zero, to 16th with two good lifts for 148-180-328. He is now ahead of team-mate Erkand Qerimaj. For the US, Ryan Grimsland was overtaken by Caden Cahoy, who made 144-185-329. Chris Murray (GBR)Of all four athletes who bombed out, Britain’s Chris Murray was by far the happiest. The 73kg newcomer set a national snatch record before failing with his jerks in the B Group. He cleaned all three before failing twice at 179kg and then at 183kg.  If he had made any of them he would have beaten his best total at 81kg, at which weight he lifted for five years.“It was dizziness because of losing so much weight in a 12-week drop after the World Championships,” he said. “I had to do it to stay in Olympic qualifying and I needed the pressure to do it. I’ve come to realise that I was complacent about everything as an 81.“We’re always complaining in the west that other nations are better than us because they’re doping but now I’m thinking, ‘Maybe it’s actually because they do things properly.’“Now I’m doing it properly too. I’ve found a nutritionist, I have a new sleep routine, regular massages, better physio and recovery. It’s costing me a lot so I won’t be putting down a deposit on a house any time soon.“But if I’m going to be a weightlifter I’m going to do it properly. I spent too long looking at  what the best Brits have done. Now I’m looking at the best out there, as well as looking inwards for change.“I’m learning a lot through this qualification process. I need to look at what happened here, maybe change my technique to make the cleans quicker, talk again to my nutritionist. Coming down, I still don’t know what my training volume is.“But I’m up there now as a 73. I’m confident that over the next four years I can do numbers that will challenge for medals. I’ve done everything as well as I can to this point, I’m feeling great and I’m really excited about going to Thailand (for the final Olympic qualifier six weeks from now).”Britain has sent its biggest ever team of 39 to these Championships, including athletes, coaches, support personnel and technical officials. Women's 64kg podiumUkraine had a 1-2 finish in the women’s 64kg when Hanna Davydova made 100-120-220 to edge ahead of team-mate Svitlana Samuliak on 101-118-219. Both lifters had their final attempts overturned by the jury for bending and extending.Wiktoria Wolk from Poland missed her first two snatches then made four good lifts to take clean and jerk gold and third place overall on 94-121-215, ahead of snatch bronze medallist Aysel Ozkan from Turkey.Samuliak was a European silver medallist at 55kg last year, as well as junior champion at 59kg. She weighed in lightest today at 61.46kg but will have to pile on some weight in the next few weeks if she is to try for a place at Paris 2024. Kamila Konotop’s presence at 59kg means the only weight category open to her is 71kg, where she would need to improve by about 25kg on today’s total. Sabine Kusterer (GER)Double Olympian Sabine Kusterer from Germany left her shoes on the platform after making all three clean and jerks to bring to an end an international career that began 17 years ago. “My first international youth competition was in 2007 and my first senior was 2010,” said Kusterer, 33, wearing a ‘Time to say goodbye’ t-shirt. She will also leave the military, where she has been in the army sport group, to study economics and turn to coaching. By Brian

Sofia, Day 3: Third European title for Konotop, and Finland’s Retulainen makes big move in Paris rankings

Kamila Konotop from Ukraine won her third senior continental title in a dramatic women’s 59kg contest at the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. The drama did not involve Konotop, who finished 15kg clear, but featured a cast of seven lifters aiming to make ground in the Olympic rankingsThis was a crucial day for those hoping to go to Paris 2024. While Konotop is assured of finishing near the top of the rankings, there is a desperately close contest further down. Kamila Konotop (UKR) with her teamAthletes who started the day in 10th, 11th, 12th , 13th and 15th place all failed to make any gains. The three placed 10th to 12th all bombed out – Taylor Wilkins from the United States, Nina Sterckx from Belgium and Lucrezia Magistris from Italy. It was a fourth bombout in six qualifying appearances by Magistris.Silver medallist Dora Tchakounte from France missed two clean and jerks so she remained 13th. Alina Shchapanova, the independent neutral athlete from Belarus, was 12kg down on her best total in qualifying after making only two good lifts.Two lifters did have a good day, though. Saara Retulainen from Finland moved up from 27th place to 16th with a 12kg improvement, and last year’s 55kg champion Andreea Cotruta from Romania went from 28th to 19th in her first competition at this weight.Retulainen, a 30-year-old marketing and social media entrepreneur who has to balance training with her career, was due a change of luck at the European Championships. She was delighted with her 95-119-214 for silver in clean and jerk and bronze on total. Saara Retulainen (FIN)At the 2022 Championships Retulainen suffered a bad ankle injury in her first snatch. She was on crutches, and later tore her patella. Last year she suffered another injury a week before the competition in Yerevan.“I’ve had some tough luck,” she said. “This time I’ve been in great shape in training so I came here hoping to improve my best qualifying total and fight for medals. That last clean and jerk made it a really good day.”Cotruta, 10 years younger than Retulainen, had struggled with the weight change. “At the start of the process it was difficult, but now it’s fine,” she said after making 94-118-214, up 11kg on her best qualifying total made at 55kg. She will probably need another 10kg in the final qualifier in Thailand, which ends on April 11, to get into the top 10. “I’ll certainly give it a try,” she said. Andreea Cotruta (ROU)Konotop declined her final attempt after making 105-125-230. Tchakounte took snatch bronze and silver on total with 98-117-215. Sterckx was second in snatch on 101kg before failing in clean and jerk.Jess Gordon Brown from Britain made 90-110-200 to top the B Group, the first time she has totalled 200kg in international competition. Her team-mate Zoe Smith retired after failing with her fist snatch in the A session. Wilkins snatched a career-best 99kg before becoming the fifth athlete to bomb out. Team USA is competing in Bulgaria rather than at the Pan American Championships in Venezuela, on government advice. The Americans cannot win medals but have been cleared by the IWF to lift as guests and their totals will count in the Olympic rankings.For the second time in successive days an Armenian junior world champion won gold. On Tuesday it was Aleksandra Grigoryan, today it was Gor Sahakyan in the men’s 67kg.Sahakyan, who won at this weight last year with a total of 320kg, could not match it this time after missing two snatches. He took the lead on total with his first clean and jerk, missed the next one and declined his final attempt on 140-171-311.Turkey had silver and bronze on total. Kaan Kahriman, third last year, won snatch gold on the way to 142-168-310 while Ferdi Hardal made 136-169-304.Sergio Massidda from Italy, who is bound for Paris at 61kg, failed with his last two attempts and dropped from second in snatch to fourth overall on 141-162-303. By Brian

Sofia, Day 2: Four medals for Bulgaria as USA guest Morris moves up Paris rankings

Host nation Bulgaria had four men on the podium in two contests, an Armenian teenager claimed the women’s 55kg, and American Hampton Morris made a big gain in the Olympic rankings on the second day of the European Championships in Sofia.Morris moved up from 10th place to seventh after outperforming all the Europeans in the 61kg session. Team USA cannot win medals here but their totals count in the Paris 2024 rankings.They were given permission to compete in Bulgaria rather than the Pan American Championships later this month in Venezuela, a country with which USA has no diplomatic relations. Hampton Morris (USA, right) posing with the European medallistsAmong those Morris overtook was the Bulgarian Ivan Dimov, who was surprisingly beaten by team-mate Gabriel Marinov. Morris broke three American records in making 126-171-297, which was 16kg more than Marinov’s winning total.Marinov declined his final attempt after making 121-160-281. Dimov successfully opened with 130kg before missing four straight attempts, then finished with 150kg for a total of 280kg.Shota Mishvelidze from Georgia had his lowest total for many years, making 125-147-272 for third place. But that was a phenomenal effort by last year’s champion, who is fifth in the Paris rankings, because he was recently laid low by a virus that got into his lungs. He was in hospital last month and was not sure he would be fit enough to lift.Morris was especially happy with his career-best snatch of 126kg. “The last two weeks before this competition went very well,” he said.“I was really happy with the way my snatch was moving, and so was my dad (coach Tripp). I felt very good out there – the event has been amazing. My only target was to improve my place in the rankings and I did that.”Pavlo Zalipskyi from Ukraine and Valentin Iancu from Romania, who finished fourth and fifth, also won medals. Zalipskyi was second in snatch and Iancu second in clean and jerk.Marinov and Dimov had plenty of support from a noisy home crowd, just like winner Angel Rusev and third-placed teenager Dzhan Zarkov in the earlier 55kg session.For Rusev it was a sixth European title since 2018 as a youth, junior, and now four straight times as a senior. Rusev was helped by the jury, who reversed a unanimous no-lift decision on his second snatch of 109kg. He declined his final attempt after making 109-135-244.Five of the other 11 athletes in the session have stood alongside Rusev on the podium during his run of success, sometimes with a snatch gold but never ahead of him on total.One of them, Josue Brachi from Spain, was out of contention at halfway after three snatch failures. He took clean and jerk bronze on 131kg. Two others, snatch winner Muammer Sahin from Turkey and the Georgian Goderdze Berdelidze, dropped away after two clean and jerk failures. It was the last appearance for Sahin, 30, who retired afterwards.Cristian Luca from Romania also fell just short after losing his final attempt. Luca was fourth,  which left only one of the five in the medal positions on total this time – second-placed Ramini Shamilishvili from Georgia. Shamilishvili made five good lifts for 111-130-241.Zarkov, 17, was making his first appearance in a senior competition and was the only athlete to make all six lifts. He was nearly 50kg up on his last result in the European Youth Championships nine months ago, making 102-133-235 to move from eighth in snatch to third overall.There was an exciting finish in the women’s 55kg where two teenagers fought it out for gold and a 31-year-old won her first international medal in third place.Junior world champion Aleksandra Grigoryan from Armenia kept up a good run of results when she edged ahead of the 18-year-old Italian Celine Delia, who was competing at the senior Championships for the first time.At the World Juniors in Mexico in November, Grigoryan was fifth in snatch before winning gold on total with her final lift. Here in Sofia she was seventh at halfway and did it again, winning with a final clean and jerk of 115kg.Italy’s coach Sebastiano Corbu said Grigoryan “truly performed a miracle in the last attempt”. He was very happy with Delia’s performance. “Let's take this silver medal which was an excellent result for a rookie and confirms the excellent preparation made.”Grigoyan, 19, has competed five times in seven months. “I like to keep busy,” she said. She plans to lift again at the IWF World Cup in Thailand, which starts in seven weeks. “Was I confident of winning at halfway? It was 50-50. I know I’m more powerful in clean and jerk.” Armenian teenager Aleksandra Grigoryan with team-mates after her 55kg victoryDelia made her last two lifts to take the lead and finished 84-11-195, a career-best total. Sol Anette Waaler from Norway was the only snatch medallist to make the top three on total.Waaler, 31, made a remarkable save on her second clean and jerk, ending up right on the front edge of the platform. That helped her to 86-104-190.“I’ve never medalled before internationally so I’m happy with that,” she said. “But I’m also disappointed because I’ve been making more in training.” Waaler, from Trondheim, was a late starter in weightlifting in 2016, switching from CrossFit, and plans to keep going for a while yet.Waaler won gold in snatch ahead of Yulia Hulina, the independent neutral athlete from Belarus, and Burcu Alici from Turkey, who was also third in clean and jerk. Hulina finished sixth and Alici fourth. Alici’s twin sister Duygu was a snatch medallist at 49kg on Monday before bombing out in clean and jerk. By Brian

Sofia, Day 1: Colourful Cambei breaks record and wins again for Romania  

Mihaela Cambei wore her national colours with pride once more as she won her second senior continental title on the opening day of the 2024 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.Cambei broke her own 49kg European record in total as she made five good lifts for 90-109-199. That was 1kg more than her best in Olympic qualifying and leaves her in a strong position in fifth place, only 1kg behind three of the four above her. Mihaela Cambei (ROU)She has now won three European titles taped up in the colours of Romania’s flag, blue, yellow and red. It has helped her to another triumph, too – the EWF’s award for top female lifter in 2023. The men’s winner, at the opening ceremony after yesterday’s three sessions, was super-heavyweight multiple champion Lasha Talakhadze from Georgia.At the European Junior Championships in Albania in 2022 Cambei decided to cover her shoulders and upper arms with K Tape. The Kinesiology Tape is used to improve circulation and support muscles but Cambei – who has 266,000 followers on Instagram – saw it is a way to promote her country, too. “It has worked well,” she said.Teenager Olivia Drzazga from Poland was second on 74-96-170 and Thammy Nguyen won another landmark medal for Ireland in third place on 74-95-169. Thammy Nguyen (IRL), with her medalsLast year Nguyen became Ireland’s first medallist at the senior European Championships when she took bronze in clean and jerk, finishing fifth overall. This was her country’s first medal in total at the continent’s flagship event.Nguyen was sick at Christmas and has had a knee injury. “This one was tough,” she said after making only two good lifts. That was better than some others on a day when there were many red lights and three medal contenders failed to make a total.Turkey had two chances to make the podium but finished with two bombouts by Alici Duygu, second in snatch, and Medine Belicier. Giulia Imperio from Italy, who was hoping to move up the Olympic rankings, was another who failed to make a total in a session that featured many red lights. Imperio missed all three snatches and retired from clean and jerk.Mara Strzykala was a very happy winner of the B Group. Strzykala, who will be 32 next month, is Luxembourg’s only current international weightlifter and the first woman ever to represent her nation in major international competitions. Mara Strzykala (LUX. right), with her coachToday she recovered from two snatch failures to make all three clean and jerks for 66-92-158 before celebrating with her coach Sabine Kusterer, the German who has twice lifted at the Olympic Games. It was good enough for sixth place, ahead of seven A Group lifters.Strzykala would never have been in Sofia, or even in weightlifting but for losing a bet a few years ago. A weightlifting coach knew she had a background in gymnastics and track and field, and kept asking her to try a new sport.“I kept saying no, then one night we were in a bar and we had a bet on whether the next customer through the door would do this or say that, I can’t remember exactly. Anyway, I lost and that meant I had to go and do a weightlifting session with him. Soon the sessions became weekly, then twice and three times a week.”Kusterer became her coach when Strzykala, met her at the 2022 World Championships, seven months after her first international appearance. “Sabine saw mistakes everywhere. She gave me detailed instructions on what to do and all those mistakes have magically disappeared.”Strzykala competes in the German Bundesliga for KSV Grunstadt. She will keep going in the sport as long as she can balance her training with her job as an environmental scientist for the Luxembourg government.Turkey fared much better in the women’s 45kg when two 20-year-olds finished 1-2, Cansu Bektas and Gamze Altun.Bektas continued her phenomenal run of success despite failing with her final two attempts when she looked sure to register career-best numbers.  She is a double world and continental junior champion and today she won her second senior European title on 75-88-163, equalling her best total. Altun made 65-92-157, and Marta Garcia from Spain was third on 72-84-156. By Brian