Paweł Ośmiałowski of Poland is alone in the 59kg class but we should see some jockeying for position in the 66s. Deadlift WR holder Hassan El Belghiti of France looks to be a long way ahead of Mariusz Grotkowski but the Polish lifter's nomination is the 732.5kg he did at the world championships which wasn't his best showing. He did 775kg the year before in Stavanger so he will be pushing El Belghiti all the way.
Watch out for the the tight battle in the men's 83kg class. 74kg world champion Kjell Bakkelund of Norway has moved up a weight class for this competition and is still fighting at the very front. He's nominated with the 875kg total he got at this competition last year and that matches EXACTLY the nomination we have for Ukraine's Vitalii Kolomiiets, with his team mate Andriy Naniev only 5kg behind. However Kolomiiets totalled 890kg as recently as the World Equipped in Viborg last November which puts him a little way ahead.
No surprises that WR holder and current world champion, Kostiantyn Musiienko of Ukraine, is way out in front in the 93s but there are a couple of head to head battles in the 105kg class. Denmark's Nicki Lentz and Sweden's Oliver Dahlkvist are both nominated on 1,000kg and, a smidge further back, Norway's Asgeir Hoel and Ukraine's Oleksandr Ruberts are both on 982.5kg. With three of these lifters within range of the squat world record, this should make for some exciting viewing.
In the 120kg class, we have Ukrainian team mates, Viktor Leskovets and Danylo Kovalov, facing off against the Frenchman, Sofiane Belkesir. We see Leskovets competing in bench only more often than full power but he seems well matched with Belkesir, the incoming European Champion. Of course Kovalov, the current world champion, will be looking to regain the title. Kovalov brought a bronze medal back from the World Games last year and his experience belies his youth so he is a real threat here.
Ákos Labát of Slovakia is the top nomination in the super heavyweight class. He bombed out on bench last year, as did Ionut Florin Lupas of Romania, another of the top contenders in this class. Germany's Christoph Seefeld has gone up to the supers recently so it will be interesting to see happens here with none of last year's medallists in the competion.
Equipped powerlifting is unpredictable beast but this is what makes it so exciting and we are lucky to have some of the worlds best right here in Europe.
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