Men’s 81 kg Division Recap – IWF European Weightlifting Championships 2024

Day 5 of the European Weightlifting Championships in Sofia displayed an impressive lifting session in the Men’s 81-kg weight category, where eleven male athletes were performing in the Group A.

The battle in the division was attention-hooking as the warriors of the Top 3 were competing equally trying to surpass others with extreme weights.

Let’s observe the highlights of this battle and finalize the winning lifts in each exercise. Keep following our review to know the details of this world-class tournament.

The Italian Team Finally Wins Total Gold, While the Albanian team Returns on the World Arena

Let’s see the TOP 3 weightlifters who gained the highest awards due to their exemplary lifts: 

🥇REYES MARTINEZ Oscar (ITA) – 155-191-346
🥈HARUTYUNYAN Rafik (ARM) – 154-182-336
🥉QERIMAJ Erkand (ALB) – 155-180-335

The winner in today’s weight class was REYES MARTINEZ Oscar from Italy who lifted 155 kg in Snatch at the second attempt, 191 kg in Clean & Jerk at the second try, and a total of 346 kg.

The second place was occupied by HARUTYUNYAN Rafik from Armenia who got in total 336 kg, he lifted 154 kg in Snatch, and 182 kg in Clean & Jerk.

The bronze medalist was QERIMAJ Erkand from Albania: he lifted 155 kg in Snatch,  180 kg in Clean & Jerk, and got 335 kg in the sum of two exercises.

Top Athletes’ Review

The Men’s 81-kg weight category winner REYES MARTINEZ Oscar, is an Italian weightlifter, 2023 World Champion, and a gold medalist at the 2023 European Championships. In Yerevan, he lifted 343 kg in total, which is 3 kilos less than his today’s total. But at the Worlds in Riyadh, he showed better results in a total of 356 kg.

Speaking about the silver medalist, HARUTYUNYAN Rafik, an Armenian lifter, 2022 European Champion, and two-time bronze medalist at the European Championships in 2022 and 2023. Today was his worst total result: it was one kilo less compared to the Europeans in Yerevan and 18 kilos less than the European Championships in Tirana.

The bronze holder, QERIMAJ Erkand from Albania, an Albanian weightlifter, he won the silver medal in the 73-kg category in Snatch at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran. In the 2014 European Weightlifting Championships in Israel, he took a gold medal.

Snatch results:

Considering the Snatch session, we can confirm that the performance was quite equal, especially between the Top 3 lifters. Although all athletes had no lifts on their third attempts. 

🥇REYES MARTINEZ Oscar (ITA) – 155 kg
🥈QERIMAJ Erkand(ALB) –  155 kg
🥉HARUTYUNYAN Rafik (ARM) –  154 kg

During the Clean & Jerk exercise, there was a much smaller number of successful lifts: almost everyone had red lights on the second and third attempts.

Clean & Jerk results:

🥇REYES MARTINEZ Oscar (ITA) – 191 kg
🥈BEBEN Patryk (POL) – 183 kg
🥉KONDRATIUK Dmytro (UKR) – 183 kg

Watch the next performances among the perspective weightlifters of Group A from Olympic and non-Olympic weight classes that will perform in the upcoming days of this European tournament. The competition is already over halfway, so the most tense and thrilling battles are waiting for us.

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