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With the European Championships rounding up yesterday let's check in on how the GB squad performed!
Dave Sawyer, Stuart Martin and Julie Morrish took sixeen lifters to Batumi for the comp. Hannah Powell (W45), Kelly-Jo Robson (W49), Amy Williams (W55), Olivia Blatch (W59), Gareth Evans (M67), Haroon Siraj (M67), Sarah Davies (W64), Zoe Smith (W64), Sally Bennett (W71), Emily Godley (W71), Chris Murray (M81), Jack Oliver (M81), Edmon Avetisyan (M96), Mercy Brown (W87), Owen Boxall (M102) and Emily Campbell (W87+).
Zoe Smith had an incredible performance in Georgia, an absolute cracker of a 64kg group to watch!! Zoe hit overall bronze and an amazing silver medal for her clean & jerk which equalled that of gold medalist Loredana Toma! Her final C&J was a career best 128KG, with amazing execution of the jerk after pulling a leg muscle during the clean. Zoe totalled 224kg after batteling with 4th place teammate Sarah Davies, overtaking by going 3 for 3 on the C&J. This leaves Zoe on target for Olympic qualification!
The second medal for overall total came from Emily Godley (Muskett). Emily scored a silver medal for her 216kg total in the 71kg category! Emily acheived a 93kg snatch and 123kg clean & jerk despite concerns about a hip problem.
Emily Campbell was the last to compete, absolutely smashing the comp with and overall Bronze Medal! This mean GB walking away from Batumi with 3 overall medals (Zoe Smith & Emily Godley also), marking the best performance by a British team at the European Seniors. Emily secured a a triple bronze wih medals for the Snatch (115kg), Clean & Jerk (145kg) and Total (260kg). Emily lifted the highest total a British female athlete has ever reached!!
Hannah Powell finished in 6th place in the W45, 4kg shy of the podium, coming 4th in the C&J contest with an amazing 83kg lift, and 146kg total! This was a huge increase on her 128kg Commonwealth games total. Kelly-Jo Robson came 6th in the W49 for snatch with 70kg, but unfortunately failed to make a clean and jerk. Her snatch however was a new British record! Amy Williams (W55) finished in 13th place overall with 173kg total, she equalled her 75kg snatch PB and jerked 98 for a new PB. Olivia Blatch reached 20th in the W59, with a 79kg snatch & 102kg clean and jerk. 102 was a clean and jerk PB after recent wrist and knee injuries! Sally Bennet represented in the 71kg B group, finishing 5th with a 188kg total, and 12th overall in the 71s.
With 9 female athletes in the championships, GB received 4 bronze and 3 silver medals.
For the men, Gareth Evans topped the B group of his 67kg category, lifting a 285kg total, 8th overall. Haroon Siraj unforunately failed to make a total in the same group, but hit a 115kg snatch, and attempted 120kg for the first time in comp. Jack Oliver hit a 322kg total in the 81kg B group reaching 13th overall, and Chris Murray 304kg in the C group, 22nd overall. Edmon Avetisyan secured 342kg in the men's 96kg finishing in 16th place. Owen Boxall finished 17th in the 102kg, with a 345kg total (155/190, putting in some good work on a 198kg attempt!)