Nordic countries battle for Nordic titles

Santasport in Rovaniemi, Finland, welcomed the Nordic countries Oct. 8-9 to battle for Nordic titles. The best female performance was lifted by Finland’s Saara Retulainen in the women’s 59 kg category. After her personal best performance last week in Meissen with a 208kg total in the 64 kg category, she dropped down to 59 kg and posted a 89 kg snatch together with a 112 kg clean and jerk. Norway’s Ine Andersson won the title in the 64 kg category and posted second best Sinclair points of the weekend. Her best snatch was 86 kg and her best clean and jerk was 114 kg to break the 200 kg marker. Sweden did not send their European Champion Patricia Strenius to the Championships. The Finnish young star Janette Ylisoini placed third in these senior Championships in the 71 kg category with a 203 kg total. Her snatch of 92 kg was a Finnish as well as a Nordic record.

In the men’s competition the best Sinclair performance was done by Denmark’s Simon Darville in the 96 kg category. He snatched 146 kg and clean and jerked 170 kg to win the Nordic title. It was unfortunate that many of the Nordic countries focused on sending a women’s team to the championships, and so Finland, the host country with the most male lifters, claimed the men’s Nordic Team Trophy by a good margin. In the women’s Team Competition, Denmark took home the trophy lead by their Nordic Champions Line Gude (92 kg +122 kg) in the 71 kg category and Veronica Storm (87 kg + 111 kg) in the 87 kg category.

History was also made as the first ever Faroese weightlifter stepped on the international platform. Maibrit Reyenheim from the Faroe Islands (FRO) went six for six in the 71 kg category for a 6th place finish with a 81 kg snatch and 100 kg clean and jerk.