By Brian Oliver
Eyglo Sturludottir lived up to her billing when she won her country’s first ever medals at the European Championships in Moldova. She did it in style by making all six lifts for victory at 71kg, and was presented with her medals by her mother. After a run of consistent improvement, Eyglo was fourth at the World Championships four months ago in Bahrain. Iceland’s national TV station took an interest, and broadcast the session at the Chisinau Arena live.
“Everybody was expecting me to win because of all the publicity”, said Eyglo. “That was pressure I didn’t really want. There was a bit more pressure thinking about the other lifters as well. Usually I don’t look at the other athletes. I feel like I’m not competing against anyone, it’s just me and my lifts.”
Eyglo and her coach Ingi Gunnar Olafsson were well aware that one of the other medal contenders, the Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Siuzanna Valodzka from Belarus, had finished fourth at the Paris Olympic Games, and had a career-best total 7kg higher than Eyglo’s.
Another AIN athlete, Zarina Gusalova from Russia, had beaten Valodzka at the CIS Games in Belarus two years ago. “To be honest, I thought the Russian would win,” said Eyglo. “But I did it.” She made 109-135-244. Valodzka was never in contention for gold after failing with her first two snatch attempts and did well to finish third on 102-134-236, which was 10kg down on her Paris total.
Gusalova led by 1kg at halfway and made her first five, but when she failed with her final attempt on 134kg, Eyglo had won with a lift to spare. Gusalova, the world youth champion in 2021, looked good throughout until that late miss and finished 110-131-241.
“We had a plan before but my coach read the game and we changed it,” said Eyglo. “It was a strange feeling to know I’d won with a lift to spare, but Ingi said go out there for one more and get the Nordic record on 135.”
It was a great competition for the Nordic countries, with four athletes in the top seven, all on best totals – Eyglo, teenager Janette Ylisoini from Finland fourth, Line Gude sixth for Denmark and Jennifer Andersson seventh for Sweden. Lisa Marie Schweizer from Germany took snatch bronze on 108kg and finished fifth.
“Our women are doing well in the Nordic countries but where are the men?” said Eyglo. “They need to up their game and lift more weights.”
Eyglo heads home to switch to her other life now – studying to be a doctor. “I have a fourth-year final exam on Friday next week, and then a month of finals. Then I’m going to work as an assistant in the psychiatric wing of a hospital as part of my studies. “I have huge finals and I haven’t even thought about them because my mind has been on this. That’s good, because I don’t want to be nervous for my exams. And when I’m in my finals I won’t be thinking about weightlifting.”
Her mother Harpa Thorlaksdottir, who was recently elected President of the Iceland Weightlifting Federation, said that studying and sport were the perfect combination for Eyglo, 23. “She is excelling in both. Today I’m the proudest mum in Iceland, definitely!” The whole country is proud of Eyglo. The population of Iceland is 390,000, and the population of Russia is 143 million. “Some of these girls have home cities bigger than our country,” said Eyglo.
The finishing order in the day’s other medal event, the men’s 81kg, was the same for a third straight time – Oscar Reyes from Italy first and Rafik Harutyunyan from Armenia second. Reyes declined his final attempt after making 159-190-349, his best total in this Championships but 7kg below his all-time best when he won the 2023 world title. Harutyunyan, the 2022 champion, failed with his last two attempts and made 158-185-343.
Two Albanians who made only four good lifts between them and competed hours apart had a tight tussle for the bronze medal. The 36-year-old veteran Erkand Qerimaj made only his openers for 150-183-333 in the B Group, but was still in third place on total with a few minutes remaining in the A Group.
Only his team-mate Cristi Ramadani, who is 12 years younger, had a chance of displacing him – which he did by bravely making his final attempt at 186kg after four straight failures. Ramadani made 151-186-337.
Chris Murray from Great Britain made five good lifts in a total of 322kg in his first competition since a serious injury at the World Cup in Thailand a year ago.