October Digest: Prizes, Records and High-Profile Returns

October turned out to be rich in events in the weightlifting world, and the Ukrainians again confirmed that Ukraine is one of the strongest nations. Read on for details.

Young Stars of the European Weightlifting Championships

On October 26, the city of Durres (Albania) hosted the European Championship among juniors under 20 and youth under 23. 198 and 144 athletes from more than 30 countries of the world took part in the competition, respectively.

Team competition results:

Belgian Nina Stercikx (55 kg) set the world and European junior records in clean and jerk (118 kg) and total (213 kg).

Also, new European records were set by:

• J20 Romanian Mihaela Valentina Cambei (49 kg) – snatch 87 kg, clean and jerk 102 kg and total 189 kg;
• U23 Ukrainian Kamila Konotop (59 kg) – snatch 104 kg;
• Romanian U23 Ionut Tiberiu Donose (73 kg) – snatch 139 kg and total 300 kg;
• U23 Georgians Irakli Chkheidze (102 kg) – clean and jerk 216 kg.

Asian Weightlifting Championship

On October 16, the Asian Weightlifting Championship ended in Manama, the capital of Bahrain. The world saw new records!

First of all, performed by the Armenian Gor Minasyan (+109 kg), the silver medalist of the 2016 Olympic Games, who now plays for Bahrain. At the tournament, he set and then broke his own record in the snatch, stopping at 210 kg. In the clean and jerk, he took second place, but in total he also scored a record number of 452 kg.

Another record of the tournament was set by the Malaysian junior ANIQ KASDAN Mohamad (61 kg). In the snatch he lifted 160 kg.

The overall medal standings look like this:

Remember that the main event in the world of weightlifting will be held December 5-16 in the capital of Colombia, Bogotá.

The Return of the Latvian Star

On October 10, Latvian weightlifter Rebeka Salsabil Ibrahim (before her marriage, Rebeka Koha) announced her return to big sport.

After the Tokyo games in 2020 were postponed due to the covid pandemic, Rebeca decided to retire from the sport and devote herself to her family. The first unsuccessful pregnancy did not break her, and four months ago she gave birth to a daughter. Most likely, now the former Olympic hope of Latvia will represent the country of her husband – Qatar.

Three years ago, Rebeka was one of the most promising weightlifters in Europe in the 53 kg, 58 kg and 59 kg weight categories. She made her debut at the 2011 European Youth Championships at the age of 13, and already at 15 she won the continental youth title. One of her most outstanding awards is bronze at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (China).

The return of the athlete should take place on December 27 at the Qatar 7th International cup Weightlifting.

The biggest jackpot of Oleksiy Novikov

Ukrainian strongman Oleksiy Novikov finished the sports season as a winner in the Rogue Invitational Strongman Competition (Austin, USA). This is the most prestigious strongman competition with the largest prize fund in the world – Oleksiy took $112,108 from Texas!

At last year’s event, he managed to take third place, and in this one he climbed to the highest step of the podium, gaining 49.5 points. This time he overtook the American Trey Mitchell, who scored 48 points, and the Canadian Mitchell Hooper (43.5 points).

10 athletes participated in the competition, including Oleksiy’s compatriot Pavel Nakonechny. Pavel moved up to the fifth position with 35 points.

Oleksiy dedicated his victory, like all the victories of this year, to his country and the Ukrainian people. “I am proud to be Ukrainian,” he said in his Instagram profile.

We remain strong and determined on the way to our victories, like Oleksiy!