Originally published on King of the Lifts
59kg
It was great to hear the home crowd support for Dariusz Wszola (POL) in the 59kg class. A veteran of
the sport, he’s been lifting both classic and equipped for 20 years now. His main opponent here
was current world champion, Antoine Garcia (FRA) who was on good form, pulling out a 7.5kg lead
on squats. Wszola though opened his bench with an easy 137.5kg - more than most in the weight
class above! – which put him 10kg ahead of Garcia going into deadlift. Garcia was always going to
come back strong on deadlift and, sure enough, he streaked ahead with a massive 242.5kg to
become European champion for the first time.
66kg
We had drama from the outset in the 66kg class when Panagiotis Tarinidis of France did not get the
opportunity to attempt his opening squat. Twice he was asked by the chief referee to rack the bar,
presumably for not standing erect, and the clock ran down on him. He retreated from the platform
shaking his head in dismay.
Pana looked focused as he came out again for 242.5kg with nothing on the board. He got the squat
command but no! His hips rose early, he tipped forward and no lift! This was not how we expected
things to go.
Meanwhile, Alvaro Fernandez Arcas of Spain was having a great scrap with Valentin Fruchard (FRA).
They both attempted 227.5kg for their third – Arcas went first and moved it well. Fruchard next and
it moved just as easily but Fruchard was heavier so did not move past.
The roof came off the hall as the crowd roared Pana onto the platform for his 3 rd attempt at 242.5kg.
Careful descent and the king of grind slowly brought the bar back to the top. But a groan ran around
the hall when three red lights shone out. Two red cards indicating a lack of depth and one blue for
lockout. The jury can’t get involved when it’s a unanimous decision and that meant that Pana was
out of the competition. And does that put him out of Sheffield too?
On bench, Fruchard was just a little ahead of Arcas but there was really hardly anything in it. With
Tarinidis out of the running, the stakes were suddenly higher and the tension started to build again
when Fruchard missed 155kg for his second and third. Arcas looked unstoppable though and
ultimately took bench gold and extended a tiny lead with a solid 150kg press.
Arcas was in the midst of a perfect day and, in a situation where a missed lift was a lost title, he hit
nine good lifts. Nominated in fourth and competing at his first international, what a story he takes
home along with a chest full of medals. Score one to Team Spain!
74kg
The 74s were absolutely stacked with only 10kg separating the top five on nominations.
Paul Rembauville (FRA) started strong with heaviest opener at 260kg but this ended up being his
only successful squat and Dawid Kawka (POL) eventually moved past with a well judged 262.5kg for
his third.
Eddie Berglund of Sweden came into his own on bench. He was in 4 th place after squats but his
205kg opener shot him nearly 50kg into the lead. He took two swings at 212kg to extend his own
world record and went into deadlift with a 32kg advantage that looked hard to beat.
Meanwhile, Alexander Eriksson (SWE) climbed the rankings – in 6 th place after squats, his 185kg
moving him up to 3rd place, only 2.5kg behind Kawka. Rembauville slipped back to 4 th after bench,
but his 305kg opening deadlift rocketed him into the lead once again.
Berglund’s 2nd deadlift put him in front but Eriksson jumped half a kilo ahead with 295kg.
Rembauville took 312.5kg to regain the lead but only by 2.5kg and we went into the final round with
3 lifters lining up a run at the European title.
Berglund was the first of them and he nailed 272.5kg for a 739.5kg total, setting the benchmark for
the rest. Eriksson’s second pull of 295kg had looked super easy and for his third he went after
307.5kg to snatch first place by half a kilo. It shot up but he couldn’t keep hold of the bar, and it
dropped out of his hands, leaving him with the bronze medal. The last pull of the day was 322.5kg
for Rembauville but it was not to be and Eddie Berglund was, once again, European Champion.
The championship moves forward with the top three lifters in this class taking the top three spots in
the best lifter contest, demonstrating the depth of competition and how hard fought this victory
really was.
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