Ilke Lagrou achieved Bronze in Snatch in the Women’s 81 kg Category at the 2024 European Weightlifting Championships

The women’s 81 kg category was the main show on day 7 of the European Championships in Sofia, as we saw 13 of the best female lifters battle it out for Paris qualification and the top podium spots. 

We can safely say that one of the surprise winners for this category was Ilke Lagrou from Belgium, who showed a fantastic performance on the Snatch.

All of her attempts were successful, and she went from 97 kg on her first attempt to 103 kg on her final one, which was enough to get her the bronze medal for the movement.

Unfortunately for the lifter from Belgium, her incredible performance didn’t translate onto the Clean & Jerk, where all three of her attempts resulted in a red light, and she wasn’t able to place on the overall ranking for the category. 

The interesting thing about Ilke is that she hasn’t trained to be a professional lifter all of her life – in fact, she used to be a hammer thrower, and she competed at several international events,  representing Belgium.

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