Author Jo Whiteley
120kg class
In the 120kg class, GBR’s Kieran Gray led from the start. He took the squat gold with 340kg ahead of team mate Inderraj Singh who took the silver with 327.5kg. Current junior world champion, Nicolas Peyraud (FRA), squatted 325kg for the squat bronze.
Gray maintained his lead through bench, taking bench silver with an easy looking 222.5kg for his second. Mateusz Grzesik (POL) moved ahead of Singh with a 220kg press – this was enough for the bench bronze.
Grzesik moved up another place with his 340kg opening deadlift, pushing Peyraud down to third. On the final round of deadlifts, Gray’s lead was substantial but there were still a couple of places to be decided. Peyraud first with 355kg and it went all the way, moving him up to second place and extending his own junior total world record to 895kg.
Both Gray and Grzesik attempted 360kg without success which meant that Kieran Gray could not be caught and remained European Champion for another year.
One lift remained. Singh took some mammoth jumps and called for 375.5kg for his third for a new European record. He heaved the bar to lockout and claimed the European record in his first international competition.
120+kg
The big lads lifted last at the European Classic and they made sure we went out with a bang. Ruben Rico Martin (ESP) charged out onto the platform bellowing like a bull and took squat gold with a massive 380kg. This gave him a 20kg lead over Switzerland’s Sean Koch and 30kg over heavy favourite, Cenk Kocak of Turkiye.
Dmytro Vovk pulled himself up into third place with a massive 250kg bench press and Kocak took the bench silver with 242.5kg. Martin clung to first place, benching 230kg for a 610kg sub-total but Kocak, Vovk and Koch were all right behind, tightly clustered around the 592.5kg mark.
Kocak flexed his deadlift superpower, opening with a mammoth 370kg pull and taking a convincing lead in the competition. He took 387.5kg for a new European record but 400kg for his third continued to elude him. Nevertheless he finished on 980kg, a long way clear of the rest of the field.
Martin pulled 335kg for his final deadlift, managing to stay ahead of Vovk and keep the overall silver.
At the final curtain, Great Britain, Sweden and France all finished on 47 points and the team contest had to be decided on medals. GBR had one extra silver so took the victory ahead of Sweden.
The European Classic has come of age, producing an incredible week of lifting, world records won and lost, fantastic battles and a constantly rising standard. I’m already excited for next year.