Mihaela Valentina Cambei won Gold in the 49 kg Women’s Category at the 2024 IWF European Championships 

The first day of the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, gave us the engaging start we all hoped for.

The two lightweight women’s categories kicked off the competition, and the women’s 49 kg was the main event, with many athletes emerging as stars and expected winners underdelivering on the expectations set on them. 

The big winner from the first day of the European Championships was Mihaela Valentina Cambei from Romania, who managed to walk away with three gold medals. The Romanian lifter began her quest for the top podium spot by first lifting 90 kg on the snatch on her second attempt for the gold medal in the event.

Then she continued her fantastic performance in the Clean & Jerk by lifting 109 kg on her third attempt – a result which gave her the gold medal for the lift and for the entire event as well. Mihaela Valentina finished with a total of 199 kg, a whopping 19 kg more than second-placed Oliwia Drzazga. 

Prior to this competition, Cambei had won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships in Bogota and gold medals at the 2022 European Junior Championships and U23 Weightlifting Championships. In 2023, she won her first European title in Yerevan, Armenia, with a total of 198 kg.

However, in the World Championships that year, she didn’t manage to get on the podium and was left in 5th place. Her spot in Paris was secured thanks to her fantastic performance in Sofia, and she can now head into the Olympics with a goal to improve only. 

Our full coverage of the European Championships in Sofia can be found on our blog, so if you’ve missed out on important news and you want to catch up – that’s the perfect place to go. And if you want more visual and behind-the-scenes content, make sure to check out our social media channels and our YouTube channel as well.