The 2015 European Weightlifting Championships
Part 2: The Men
Andrew “Bud” Charniga
www.sportivnypress.com
56 kg
The pretenders of this class were: Sirghi Oleg (MDA) 264, Margaryan Smbat (ARM) 259, Scarantino Mirco (ITL) 259.
Margaryan Smbat (ARM) pulled 102 fast while hopping back only to take a step forward. Sirghi Oleg (MDA) dropped fast and not particularly low with 103. Margaryan Smbat (ARM) hopped back fast and low with a 111 2nd. Scarantino Mirco (ITL) pulled 112 fast, dropping with very little foot movement. Sirghi Oleg (MDA) hopped back with 113 squatting and recovering without pause. Margaryan Smbat (ARM) pulled forward and hopped forward before shifting the bar back under control with 113.
Scarantino Mirco (ITL) made another stay in the same place lift with 115. Sirghi Oleg (MDA) could not get under a swaying in an out pull with 117. Scarantino Mirco (ITL) swung 118 forward just managing to hop forward and sink low enough to fix it.
Sirghi Oleg (MDA), Scarantino Mirco (ITL) and Margaryan Smbat (ARM). Charniga photos.
Scarantino Mirco (ITL) hopped forward to clean 140 splitting wide in the jerk; to no avail, he dropped it off the platform. He jumped to 141; this time jerking with a wide fast split to get the barbell under control. Margaryan Smbat (ARM) made a fast powerful clean with 142 splitting quickly for the jerk. Cleaning with a narrow hand spacing, Sirghi Oleg (MDA) jerked 143 quickly wile using his long arms to his advantage. Scarantino Mirco (ITL) was unable to get the jerk under control after an easy clean with 145. Margaryan Smbat (ARM) cleaned 145 quickly but struggled to lock his arms in the jerk. With his long thin arms Sirghi Oleg (MDA) made his 147 with the strongest jerk of the night. Margaryan Smbat (ARM) cleaned 151 well, but he was not close to jerking it. Already the champion Sirghi Oleg (MDA) stretched his long limbs to jerk 151 and put the icing on the cake.
62 kg
The pretenders of this class were: Hristov Valentin (AZE) 295, Sezer Bunyami (TUR) 288, Croitoru Florin (ROU) 287.
Croitoru Florin (ROU) caught his 128 1st attempt just above parallel. Pretty much keeping his feet in the same spot, he sank lower with his next at 132. Sezer Bunyami (TUR) exploded under 133 only to have the weight pop out of his grasp. The other “fast as a speeding bullet” in this class Hristov Valentin (AZE) hopped forward and hit bottom faster than the naked eye could follow. Sezer Bunyami (TUR) sat a little slower and very low to fix his 2nd at 134. Coitoru Florin (ROU) made a very smooth hop forward low squat lift with 134. Hristov Valentin (AZE) hopped forward with 135 hitting bottom at the speed of a flash bulb going off. Sezer Bunyami (TUR) dragged 136 like it was glued to the floor. He hopped back and dropped quickly before dumping the bar forward. Hristov Valentin (AZE) just stopped pulling with 137.
Hristov Valentin (AZE), Sezer Bunyami (TUR) and Sukhanov Pavel (RUS). Charniga photos
Coitoru Florin (ROU) stopped 148 at parallel in the clean and then jerked back for an easy opener. Sezer Bunyami (TUR) could not fix his jerk with 153. Coitoru Florin (ROU) hopped forward with 153 and started shaking before dropping the barbell. After an easy clean with 153, Sezer Bunyami (TUR) tried jerking with a bent back knee without success. Coitoru Florin (ROU) managed to stretch himself under 153 after a hop forward clean. Facing elimination Sezer Bunyami (TUR) jumped to 149; this time he managed to fix the jerk with bent knee and all. With a 173 clean and jerk to his credit, Hristov Valentin (AZE) took a modest 160 to secure the gold.
69 kg
The pretenders of this class were: Ismayilov Daniyar (TUR) 337, Petrov Sergey (RUS) 322, Kingue Matam (FRA) 321.
Petrov Sergey (RUS) pulled smoothly and hopped forward in dropping low and quickly with 140. Kingue Matam (FRA) sat very low with one arm noticeably lower than the other with 142. Petrov Sergey (RUS) hopped forward about 8 cm sitting low with 144. Kingue Matam (FRA) made another low squat under an uneven barbell with 145. Petrov Sergey (RUS) cut his hop forward to about 3 cm for his third good lift with 146. Kingue Matam (FRA) hopped forward sitting very low under a perilously uneven barbell with 146.
Lifting alone, Ismayilov Daniyar (TUR) dropped very quickly pushing 147 up and back without bottoming out. He hopped back a little with another impressive fast drop under 156.
Ismayilov Daniyar (TUR) and Petrov Sergey (RUS). Charniga photos
The leader after the snatch Ismayilov Daniyar (TUR) started conservatively with 170 splitting quickly and shallow. Petrov Sergey (RUS) cleaned 170 slowly and laboriously jerking slowly and mechanical. Kingue Matam (FRA) cleaned 175 well jerking it with a wide fast split. Ismayilov Daniyar (TUR) pulled back and hopped back with 175 then scissored his legs extremely quickly into a shallow split. Petrov Sergey (RUS) cleaned 175 slowly and dipped slowly while shifting forward for the jerk; all of this sent the barbell hopelessly out in front. Petrov Sergey (RUS) cleaned 176 better than his previous; this time he jerked a little forward by adjusting and stepping under for a good lift. Kingue Matam (FRA) cleaned 181 with a hop forward and pausing to widen his hand spacing before jerking only to drop it backward.
Ismayilov Daniyar (TUR) cleaned 181 with a hop back on the finger tips before jerking in an extremely narrow split. Kingue Matam (FRA) tried cleaning 181 only to crumple forward into a heap.
77 kg
The pretenders of this class were: Martirosyan Tigran (ARM) 351, Getts Viktor (RUS) 351, Karapetyan Andranik (ARM) 350.
Getts Viktor (RUS) hopped forward dropping quickly with 153. Martirosyan Tigran (ARM) hopped back a little with not a very fast 155. Karapetyan Andranik (ARM) kept his feet in the same line to drop extremely quickly under 156. Getts Viktor (RUS) grasped the bar and began pulling with no pause to get set with 156 without hitting a deep squat. Martirosyan Tigran (ARM) hopped back and forced his body low under 160. Getts Viktor (RUS) saved his best no pause in the start lift for his 3rd with 160 by dropping very low and quickly. Karapetyan Andranik (ARM) shot under his 2nd with 161 and this time hopping back slightly. Martirosyan’s 3rd with 162 was too slow in the pull and especially in the descent to have a chance for success. Karapetyan Andranik (ARM) hopped back dropping very quickly and low under 164 to take gold in the snatch.
Martirosyan Tigran (ARM), Getts Viktor (RUS) and Karapetyan Andranik (ARM). Charniga photos.
Getts Viktor (RUS) opened with 185 hopping back slightly to clean; he scissored the feet fast for a classic Russian jerk. Martirosyan Tigran (ARM) struggled at the top of the clean recovery before push jerking the weight with his arms shaking. Karapetyan Andranik (ARM) hopped back with 186 and jerked it well but inexplicably his left arm unlocked. He repeated with this weight; this time he paused in the split to be sure he had the weight locked out. Getts Viktor (RUS) cleaned 191 easily then made another solid, fast split in the jerk.
Martirosyan Tigran (ARM) hopped forward to clean 191 then again push jerked it. Needing only 192 to regain the lead, Karapetyan Andranik (ARM) went to 193 and was unable to fix the jerk in the split. Getts Viktor (RUS) who, like Karapetyan needed only 192 or at best 193 after Andranik missed 193 to move ahead, instead selected 197. He struggled to clean it; his elbow unlocked in the jerk, so he settled for second.
85 kg
The pretenders of this class were: Hennequin Benjamin (FRA) 367, Dudoglo Alexandru (MDA) 362, Novikau Mikalai (BLR) 361, Yufkin Alexey (RUS) 0.
Hennequin Benjamin (FRA) snatched 157 with feet remaining in the same line. Novikau Mikalai (BLR) made a slow, hop forward lift with 161. Hennequin Benjamin (FRA) made another smooth in the same line with the feet snatch with 162. Yufkin Alexey (RUS) dropped under 164 braking his descent too high as if it were a power snatch weight; it was not so the weight was not fixed. By contrast Giovanni Bardis (FRA) out-did the Russian with an excellent fast hop back, low squat snatch with the same weight. Dudoglo Alexandru (MDA) hopped forward hitting a low squat with 165. Hennequin Benjamin (FRA) had to hop forward a little as he dropped low in the squat under his third good lift with 165. Novikau Mikalai (BLR) hopped forward slowly muscling out 166. Dudoglo Alexandru (MDA) tried hopping forward under 167 without success. He tried to pull harder on the same weight for his third, but it was not even as close as the previous lift. Novikau Mikalai’s (BLR) 3rd with 169 was too slow to have a chance.
Dudoglo Alexandru (MDA), Bardis Giovanni (FRA) Hennequin Benjamin (FRA). Charniga photos.
Yufkin Alexey (RUS) continued in the clean and jerk after a zero in the snatch. He cleaned 190 stopping at parallel; he jerked ok but his left arm unlocked. Dudoglo Alexandru (MDA) hopped forward under 190 struggling to hold the jerk. Novikau Mikalai (BLR) made a slow clean and a slow jerk with 192. Dudoglo Alexandru (MDA) hopped forward then ran a few more steps recovering with the weight sliding off his chest slightly. Unperturbed, he split wide and fast for a good jerk. Novikau Mikalai (BLR), who cleaned 195 faster than his first, jerked slowly and mechanically. Dudoglo Alexandru (MDA) struggled to stand with 197; he jerked quickly while splitting wide for a good lift.
Hennequin Benjamin (FRA) struggled a little standing with 198; he jerked up and back with narrow split. Showing little flexibility, Yufkin Alexey (RUS) cleaned 198 jerking slowly; somehow managing to get the job done. Novikau Mikalai (BLR) made his best clean of the night with 198; he dipped too low to drive the bar in the jerk such that the recoil of the bar caused his arm to unlock. Standing slowly with 202 Hennequin Benjamin (FRA) apparently started to black out and dropped the weight without attempting to jerk. Yufkin Alexey (RUS) did a pull with 202. Hennequin Benjamin (FRA) cleaned 202 without a hitch but jerking sloppily with a shallow split; it was a good lift nonetheless to win the gold.
94 kg
The pretenders of this class were: Didzbalis Aurimas (LTU) 403, Khugaev Khetag (RUS) 399, Venskel Aliaksandr (BLR) 386, Grela Roman (POL) 385.
Venskel Aliaksandr (BLR) kept his feet in the same line with a rather slow 168. Khugaev Khetag (RUS) pulled high catching 172 at about parallel. Pulling slow and sitting slow, Grela Roman (POL) sank a little lower than Khugaev with 173. Venskel Aliaksandr (BLR) pulled 173 forward and hopped forward under the weight for a good lift. Didzbalis Aurimas (LTU) hopped back fixing 175 just below parallel. Khugaev Khetag (RUS) hopped back dropping quickly under 176 without fully bottoming out in the squat. Venskel Aliaksandr (BLR) sank low under 177 but had to take several steps forward to get the weight under control.
Didzbalis Aurimas (LTU), Khugaev Khetag (RUS) and Grela Roman (POL). Charniga photos
Grela Roman (POL) hopped back and sat very low to secure 178. Khugaev Khetag (RUS) pulled quickly and hopped back to drop quickly then took several steps to control 180. Grela Roman (POL) pulled long and slowly; but by sitting so slowly he could not fix 181. Didzbalis Aurimas (LTU) descended under 182 very quicly. He was forced to take several steps forward to get it under control. He jumped to the 189 to break the 16 year old world record in this class. He pulled quickly and squatted under very low, only to slowly lose the weight forward.
The low squat position of this athlete like a many of the European lifters is deceiving. They can get fairly low, but the last eight centimeters or so of descent seems to be constrained by muscle tension. It is possible that much of the strength work in pulls and squats these guys do develops power at the expense of speed of stretching muscles and tendons.
Venskel Aliaksandr (BLR) somehow managed to jerk 200 after walking so far forward he was almost at the edge of the platform. Grela Roman (POL) cleaned 202 slowly jerking almost in slow motion. Khugaev Khetag (RUS) cleaned 207 quickly without squatting to the bottom before narrowly making the jerk. Venskel Aliaksandr (BLR) hopped forward with 207 struggling to stand before jerking up and back for a good lift. Grela Roman (POL) barely squeezed under a 207 jerk after a slow clean and a slow motion jerk. Venskel Aliaksandr (BLR) hopped forward wobbling in the deep squat and somehow managed to jerk the 209 after struggling to stand.
Grela Roman (POL) who struggled to stand with 209 twisting to his left had nothing left for the jerk. Didzbalis Aurimas (LTU) stood slowly with 210 before jerking with arms shaking. Khugaev Khetag (RUS) made 212 without any problem. Didzbalis Aurimas (LTU) stood slowly with 217 jerking it quickly. Khugaev Khetag (RUS) cleaned 219 hopping back and jerked with a fast split to move into first place. Didzbalis Aurimas (LTU) almost stopped during the recovery from the clean with 221; then he jerked in a deep split while struggling to hold the weight on shaking arms with elbows that cannot lock.
105 kg
The pretenders of this class were: Bonk Bartolomiej (POL) 408, Zbirnea Andrian (MDA) 399, Michalski Arkadiusz (POL) 399, Muratov Gennady (RUS) 398.
Michalski Arkadiusz (POL) slowly muscled up 172. Dropping with the speed of running molasses he let 175 drop behind then was unable to fix 176. Zbirnea Andrian (MDA) did not sink into a low squat with 177 so was unable to fix the weight overhead; he missed the same weight the same way on his 2nd. Finally he forced his body low under the 177 to stave off elimination. Muratov Gennady (RUS) started to lose 180 in the squat but forced himself lower in the squat before standing. Bonk Bartolomiej (POL) pulled long and slowly; he sat slowly for no lift. Practically lifting in slow motion, Bonk Bartolomiej (POL) descended into a low squat to fix 180. With feet staying in the same line, Muratov Gennady (RUS) made a very smooth lift with 183.
Bonk Bartolomiej (POL), Muratov Gennady (RUS) and Michalski Arkadiusz (POL). Charniga photos
Moving barbell and body at the speed of a slow moving freight train, Bonk Bartolomiej (POL) succeeded with 185. Muratov Gennady (RUS) tried to take the lead with 186; pulling forward from the floor he dropped it in front.
Zbirnea Andrian (MDA) split very quickly to jerk his 1st at 212. Muratov Gennady (RUS) cleaned 215 slowly only to jerk it even slower. Bonk Bartolomiej (POL) cleaning with a shoulder width hand spacing jerked 215 with fast split and straight back leg. In eleventh place after the snatch, it seemed there was no chance for Michalski Arkadiusz (POL). He cleaned 215 with a slight hop backward jerking quickly with a straight rear leg. Muratov Gennady (RUS) got the bar to about head height after a fairly easy clean with 220. Bonk Bartolomiej (POL) cleaned 220 barely moving his feet, jerking a little forward; however, he managed to step under it for a good lift and take a seemingly insurmountable lead. Cleaning 222 with speed and good flexibility, Zbirnea Andrian (MDA) made the fastest modern jerk of the night.
Muratov Gennady (RUS) pulled 223 forward from the floor and was clearly too fatigued to jerk after a struggle to clean it. Adding icing to the cake, Bonk Bartolomiej (POL) cleaned 223 smoothly jerking better than his previous attempt for gold in total. Still climbing out of a deep hole after the snatch, Michalski Arkadiusz (POL) cleaned 227 sticking a little at the top of the recovery before snapping the bar to arms – length and gold in the jerk.
Deceptively thin and muscle-less Zbirnea Andrian (MDA) just pulled 227. Michalski Arkadiusz (POL) added just one kilo over his good 2nd attempt at 227 to move past Zbirnea; inexplicably he could not stand with this weight.
+105 kg
The pretenders of this class were: Proshak Oleg (UKR) 435, Turmanidze Irakli (GEO) 435, Mogushkov Chingiz (RUS) 432.
Proshak Oleg (UKR) hopped back and dropped slowly under 190. Mogushkov Chingiz (RUS) with a svelte 189 kg bodyweight, who had snatched 213 last summer at the Russian national championships, opened here with 190. He flipped this bodyweight barbell to arms – length easily before letting it drop backwards. Turmanidze Irakli (GEO), the home town hero of this competition, almost power snatched his opener with 192. The Russian, whose sheer bulk makes it difficult for him to even squat down to grasp the bar, jumped to 194 for an easy lift. Proshak Oleg (UKR) hopped back slightly to make a smooth lift with 195. Turmanidze Irakli (GEO) dropped extremely quickly for such a big man with an excellent 197. Proshak Oleg (UKR) hopped back before he was forced to take two steps forward with 200. Turmanidze Irakli (GEO) had to sit as low as he could go with 201 until he started to twist to one side before recovering to loud cheers from the mostly Georgian audience.
Out came the big Russian with 202, thirteen kilos over bodyweight. He has to shift his feet quite a distance apart in the squat under in order to fit his belly between his thighs. He had to pause several seconds in the low squat before he found the balance to recover and secure first place in the snatch.
Mogushkov Chingiz (RUS), Turmanidze Irakli (GEO) and Proshak Oleg (UKR). Charniga photos
Turmanidze Irakli (GEO) cleaned 225 quickly, recovering with the weight in his finger tips; he jerked with a fast scissoring of the feet. Proshak Oleg (UKR) cleaned 230 smoothly and, barely pausing, he jerked in a sloppy, shallow split. Mogushkov Chingiz (RUS) cleaned 230 with a little struggle at the top of the recovery and then just muscled the jerk. With the vociferous home town audience behind him, Turmanidze Irakli (GEO) cleaned 231 very easily; jerking in a rush, he still managed to hold it for a good lift. Proshak Oleg (UKR) jerked 232 in a shallow bent back leg jerk to move into first. Turmanidze Irakli (GEO) made another fast easy finger tips clean with 234; but this time he jerked very solidly and with good balance to move into first place.
The excitement of the home town was short lived as Proshak Oleg (UKR) muscled his jerk with 235 with barely a split to take first place on bodyweight. Mogushkov Chingiz (RUS) had initially selected 240 for his second; he dropped the weight to 236 which was still unnecessarily more than enough to push Proshak out of first. He had to sit in the low squat for a second before standing; making an abbreviated attempt to jerk the weight he staggered backwards apparently because he began blacking out. Two minutes is simply not enough time for someone who weighs 189 kg to recover between lifts. Instead of jumping one kilo to 237 or trying some other excuse to stall for time, the coaches let him come out while still out of breath from the previous attempt. He could not stand with the 236.