Author Jo Whiteley
83kg
In the 83kg class, the competition turned upside down almost immediately when GBR’s Owen Hubbard was injured on his second squat with a suspected torn adductor and he dropped out of the running.
His team mate looked in great shape though. Jurins Kengamu’s opening squat was super deep and super strong. He broke the British record with a breezy looking 300kg on his second but 308.5kg for the European record wasn’t quite there on his third.
Damian Nam (IRL) gave his coaches a heart attack by missing his first two squats on depth. He kept adding weight and 287.5kg seemed to do the trick – catapulting him from absolutely nowhere to second place in one move.
Enahoro Asein’s (HUN) second squat at 280kg was scrappy and tough and he didn’t come out for a third. Still, this was enough for the squat bronze and he conserved some energy to carry forward for deadlift.
Although he didn’t manage to get a squat in, Hubbard wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to bench. His opener of 200kg looked super easy and 210kg for his second didn’t look much slower. Unfortunately, without a squat, he couldn’t chip the bench record so he matched it instead with 220kg for the bench gold.
Into deadlifts then and Kengamu led Nam by 15kg with Enahoro lurking in midfield like a shark in the shallows.
Kengamu opened with 297.5kg and it moved well but did not fly. Was he tiring? Still this put him 17.5kg ahead of Nam. But the Hungarian deadlifter strutted out onto the platform and snapped 340kg straight to lockout, firing himself into second place and snapping at Kengamu’s heels.
Nam took 315kg for his second and made short work of it, sliding into first place for a moment. Kengamu looked great though and came back past with 317.5kg, pushing the European total record up to 795kg. But there were stirrings in the shallows and the flash of a fin. Enahoro broke the floor easily with 360kg but there was lateral shift and the weight swung out and he couldn’t finish it. No lift for the deadlift king and he stayed in third.
Into the final round, where the champions are crowned and hearts are broken. After some shuffling of attempts, Kengamu asked for 322.5kg to hold onto first place. He demanded support from the crowd as he prowled out onto the platform and they roared their response. He dropped into a familiar posture at the back of the platform, hunting down the bar. He pulled strong, pushing the European total record up to 800kg and taking the lead in the Best Lifter contest with 111.00 GL points.
Nam out next for 325kg – he pulled it easily and retreated for a tense wait to see if he would hold onto the silver or be pushed down to bronze.
The fin slashed once again and a deadlift world record went on the bar – 370.5kg for Enahoro’s final deadlift. He pulled for the win at Worlds and missed by the smallest margin. Can he do it this time? He was almost serene on the long walk out to the platform, approaching the bar almost casually. He hit it hard and got it most of the way but he couldn’t quite lock it out and Kengamu took the win.
93s
The 93kg class was a tough day at the office for many. The top three on nominations were Emil Krastev (BUL), Gustav Hedlund (SWE) and Sascha Stendebach (GER). All three failed their opening squats, and then their second attempts, throwing the competition into confusion.
Stendebach got himself back into the competition with his third squat of 272.5kg but Krastev was not so lucky – his 282.5kg was once again turned down for depth and he had to say goodbye to his title hopes.
Hedlund took a big risk, going up all the way to 300kg for his final squat. He was rewarded by three white lights and the squat bronze. Meanwhile, Ruben Fuentes Medina (ESP) sailed into the lead with a magnificent 307.5 and snatched the squat gold with Robin Larsson (SWE) taking the silver from the B group.
After the first round of deadlifts, Hedlund was 12.5kg ahead of Stendebach with Larsson clinging to third. Christian Ayodokun (GBR) pulled himself up to third with a comfortable looking 332.5kg for his second. Hedlund missed his second at 340kg and this opened the door to Stendebach, who made short work of 360kg and moved into the lead for the first time.
Hedlund tried 340 again but he couldn’t get it moving and his title defense crumbled.
Ayondokun stunned the crowd by coming out for 360kg to pull for the win. With a perfect day so far under his belt, he had to put some work in but it looked solid, giving him the British record and the lead in the competition. All across the UK, powerlifters leapt to their feet, screaming triumph at their TVs but there was still a lift to come.
Stendebach dropped to 365kg – 2.5kg more than he actually needed – would he come to regret this? A hush fell over the crowd and there was complete silence as he took a moment of stillness to settle himself for the pull. With the European title on the line, he lifted the weight easily and laughed in triumph at the top. He might not have taken his deadlift world record back but your first European title is a powerful consolation.