Author: Jo Whiteley
84s
Agata Sitko of Poland is surely the favourite to win wherever she pops up. However, up in the 84kg class at the Euro Classic, she had Kristin Thorhallsdottir (ISL) to contend with. She was nominated only 5kg back and would mount a tough defence to hold onto her European title.
Thorhallsdottir opened with a massive 217.5kg but this was her only successful squat. After missing her opener on depth, Sitko came back strong and ultimately squatted 202.5kg but this was only good enough for squat bronze behind GBR’s Ziana Azariah who claimed the squat silver with 5kg more.
Sitko streaked into the lead as soon as we got into bench. She opened with an incredible 145kg, taking out a lead of nearly 20kg on Thorhallsdottir. The Icelandic lifter closed the gap a little with 120kg when Sitko missed two swings at 156kg for the bench world record.
With both front runners closely matched on deadlift, Sitko’s 10kg lead would be crucial. Sitko opened with 220kg. Thorhallsdottir crept a little closer with 222.5kg. Sitko took 235kg – Thorhallsdottir kept pace with 237.5kg.
Into the last round and Sitko missed 242.5kg, leaving the door open for Thorhallsdottir to attempt a new European record of 245.5kg to retain her title. Thorhallsdottir made a valiant attempt but couldn’t get it all the way to lockout, leaving the Polish Powerhouse to cross another one off her rapidly diminishing list of titles still to conquer.
Azariah meanwhile came out for the last deadlift of the session and pulled a strong 246kg, not only for the deadlift gold and overall third place, but also the crown of biggest raw deadlift in British Powerlifting. A fitting end to a perfect day for Ziana.
84+s
The superheavyweight women’s class was just nuts. Four women opened their squat at 235kg and above and made it look easy. Sonita Muluh (BEL) took a big jump to a European record of 257.5kg on her second and then ANOTHER leap to 270kg for her third. This looked astonishingly comfortable – where on earth is her limit? Emelie Leach (SWE) and Amelie Mierger (FRA) tied with 252.5kg – Mierger taking the silver by dint of lighter bodyweight.
Mierger moved into the lead with a massive 162.5kg bench. It was a tough press and a world record attempt of only one kilo more did not go. This put Mierger 7.5kg in front but with her strongest lifts behind her.
The deadlift attempts were closely matched. Mierger with 232.5kg to match the European total record. Muluh next with 235kg and it moved fast! Leach opened with 237.5kg and this really closed things up and kept her within range of the top two.
Mierger took a small jump to 237.5kg but couldn’t lock it out. Meanwhile both Muluh and Leach and jumped all the way to 253.5kg for a European record attempt. With the lower lot number, Muluh went first. It looked easy enough but was turned down 2 to 1 for soft lockout. Leach attempted the same which would be enough to snatch the overall lead but it slipped from her grasp at the top.
Still in the lead in the final round, Mierger missed 237.5kg again, putting herself in the firing line and under a huge amount of pressure from the two behind. Muluh came out first to try 253.5kg again. She made extra sure of the lockout this time and it was a good lift, a new European deadlift record, a new European Total record and, most importantly of all, gold medal position in the competition
One lift remained – Leach put 254kg on the bar. This time she pulled it quickly enough that her grip didn’t get chance to fail and she took the European deadlift record, the deadlift gold and the overall silver medal.
What a phenomenal performance from Muluh who is now only a handful of kilos away from the squat world record, the deadlift world record and even the total world record. She even took the Best Lifter award with 113.6213 GL points, something that’s tough to do from the heavier weight classes. This feels like a real breakthrough performance for Sonita and I cannot wait to see what she puts up next time.
Team’s France and GB tied on 47 points for the team trophy with two European Champions each. France had an extra silver medallist though which clinched it for them.