In the first session of the day we watched the -105 kg Junior men battle it out for the medals here in Vasteras. The squats, and gold went to Rene Caky (SUI) with 317.5 kg, silver to Antonio Perez Barros (ESP) also with 317.5 kg and bronze to Oleksandr Hanhur (UKR) with 302.5 kg.
Bench press and again Rene Caky (SUI) made it look easy, setting a new World Open record with 233.5 kg. For silver came Elno Jarvisalo (FIN) with 185 kg and bronze was won by Oleksandr Hanhur (UKR) with 180 kg.
In the deadlift section we saw massive weights lifted by these 105 kg junior men. Rene Caky once again won gold with 340 kgs in the second flight, failing to top this in the third flight, but still getting the gold. Silver medal to Oleksandr Hanhur with 325 kg and bronze to Elno Jarvisalo with 320 kg. Antonio Perrez Barros (ESP) sadly failed to achieve third place, not quite managing to hold on to the bar long enough to get him a medal today, but a valiant effort nonetheless. And another great performance from Olksandr Hanhur but neither he nor Elno Jarvisalo could get anywhere near Caky´s total of 891 kg, coming a massive 80 kgs behind him with 807.5 and 795 kg respectively. What a fantastic battle and a stunning performance from Caky – still only a junior, where does he go from here?!
The afternoon sessions brought out the -120 kg and 120+ kg junior men. In the -120 kg class squats, gold medal to Anton Wasser (SWE) with 320 kg, silver to Nicolas Payraud (FRA) with 312.5 kg and bronze to Bereczki-Kiraly Szilard (HUN) with 307.5. In the 120+ kg class gold was won by Giacomo Bifaro (ITA) with 370 kg, silver to Temur Samkharadze (GEO) with 362.5kg and bronze to Bogdan Prokopov (RUS) with 350 kg.
Bench -120 kg medals – Szilard (HUN) with 210 kg for the gold, Payraud (FRA) with 207.5 kg for the silver and Wasser (SWE) with 197.5 for the bronze. And the 120+ medals – Bifaro (ITA) with 225.5 kg for the gold, Samkharadze (GEO) with 217.5 for the silver and Bana Milan (HUN) with 207.5 for the bronze.
But again, the real battles were to come in the deadlift section and we weren’t disappointed, watching these big junior lifters performing as if they weren’t juniors at all. In the -120 kg class deadlift gold went to Anders Lillemoe Broelen (NOR) with 345 kg, silver to Jakub Sigut (CZE) with 332.5 kg and bronze to Nicolas Payraud (FRA) with 330 kg, failing his third round record attempt of 350 kg, but no matter, in the final totals he still won gold with 850 kg. Silver went to Szilard (HUN) with 830 and bronze to Ashley Butler (GBR) close behind with 825 kg. However, it was Payraud who sat comfortably ahead of his rivals by a massive 20 kg.
In the 120+ kg class, Temor Samkhardze (GEO) failed to better his first round 360 kg with a record attempt of 385.5 kg in his second and again third rounds. In the end it didn’t matter, he still won deadlift gold with his first round 360 kg lift. Deadlift silver in the 120+ class was won by Nuuti Mansukoski (FIN) with 335 kg, 25 kg behind Samkhardze, and bronze went to James McCarthy of Ireland, with a slightly heavier bodyweight, again with 335 kg.
Totals in the 120+ kg class and Temor Samkhardze (GEO) won gold with a total of 940 kg, Giacomo Bifaro (ITA) silver with a total of 892.5 kg and Bogdan Prokopov (RUS) with 872.5 kg.
And so it was the end of an amazing day of titanic powerlifting by the Juniors, and the end of the Junior competitions here in Vasteras. Tune in to the live feed tomorrow, Thursday at 1000 am for Day 7 of the European Classic here in Vasteras and tomorrow we start the day with the -47 and -52 kg women in the Open Womens and Mens competition . See you then!
