Day 3 of the 2026 EWF European Championships in Batumi brought two close contests and two champions who finished strongest when it mattered most.
Great Britain’s Sarah Davies won the women’s 63 kg category, while Türkiye’s Yusuf Fehmi Genc came through a high-level men’s 71 kg battle to take gold.
The women’s 63 kg category changed shape after the snatch. France’s Maelyn Michel led the field with 100 kg, ahead of Romania’s Andreea Cotruta on 99 kg and Ukraine’s Svitlana Moskvina on 98 kg. Davies was well off the top positions after the opening lift with 94 kg, but everything turned in the clean & jerk.
Davies made the best clean & jerk of the category with 125 kg, and that lift carried her to the European title with a 219 kg total. Alina Shchapanava finished just one kilo behind on 218 kg, while Dziyana Maiseyevich took bronze with 217 kg. Michel, who had been in front after the snatch, ended the day in fourth place on 215 kg.
The men’s 71 kg category followed a similar pattern, with the medals staying open deep into the session. Armenia’s Gor Sahakyan won the snatch with 150 kg, while Isa Rustamov of Azerbaijan and Yusuf Fehmi Genc of Türkiye both lifted 147 kg.
Genc topped the clean & jerk with 185 kg and secured the gold in total with 332 kg total. Sahakyan stayed close all the way and finished second on 330 kg, while Yahor Papou claimed bronze with 328 kg after making 183 kg in the clean & jerk. Rustamov, who was also in the fight for the podium throughout, ended fourth with 327 kg, only one kilo outside the medals.
It was one of those days where the totals tell the story best. In the women’s 63 kg category, the top three were separated by just two kilos. In the men’s 71 kg category, the gap from gold to fourth place was only five kilos. Batumi continues to deliver exactly the kind of competition a European Championships should bring, strong lifts, real pressure, and categories that stay alive until the final attempts.
Photos @Hiroki Nishioka – Easy Wl