24 European Championships medal-winning Turkish wrestlers raise bar
European Weightlifting Championships in Bulgaria, Turkish athletes capped off their campaign with an impressive 24 medals, including five gold, eight silver and 11 bronze.
Their strong performance secured second place in the women’s team category and third place in the men’s, marking a notable improvement from last year’s 22-medal haul in Armenia.
The European Championships, held in Sofia on Feb. 12-20, featured Turkish athletes vying for medals, with 10 men and 10 women in the competition.
On the championship’s opening day, Cansu Bektaş shone, clinching two golds and one silver to become the European champion in the women’s 45 kg. category.
She secured gold in the snatch with 75 kg., silver in clean and jerk with 88 kg., and set a new under-23 European record with a total of 163 kg., claiming her second consecutive European title.
Meanwhile, in the same category, Gamze Altun set a new under-23 European record in clean and jerk with 92 kg., earning a gold medal.
Despite finishing fifth in the snatch with 65 kg., she took home a silver medal with a total of 157 kg.
On the second day of the competition, the women’s 49 kg. category, Duygu Alıcı secured a silver medal in the snatch.
In the women’s 55 kg. category on the same day, Duygu Alıcı’s twin sister Burcu Alıcı clinched two bronze medals, lifting 85 kg. in the snatch and 105 kg. in the clean and jerk.
On the fifth day of the championship, in the women’s 64 kg. category, Aysel Özkan earned a bronze medal with a snatch lift of 98 kg.
Then, on the seventh day, Dilara Narin grabbed two bronze medals with lifts of 125 kg. in the clean and jerk and a total of 222 kg. in the women’s 81 kg. category.
On the eighth day, 17-year-old Büşra Çan, the youngest Turkish athlete at the championship, secured a bronze medal in the clean and jerk with an impressive lift of 127 kg. in the 87 kg. category.
In the women’s plus-87 kg. category on the final day, 18-year-old Fatmagül Çevik made a stunning debut at the European Championships, winning two bronze medals.
She finished third in Europe with a clean and jerk lift of 131 kg. and a total of 238 kg.
Turkish women finished off with an impressive total of 14 medals, including three gold, three silver, and eight bronze while their male counterparts concluded the showdown with a total of 10 medals, including two gold, five silver and three bronze.