European Weightlifting Championships: Zoe Smith claims overall bronze

Zoe Smith is currently on course for Tokyo 2020 after securing Great Britain’s first pieces of silverware at the European Weightlifting Championships in Batumi, Georgia.

The London 2012 Olympian took bronze overall in the W64kg category with a total of 224kg after a thrilling battle with Team GB teammate Sarah Davies.

Commonwealth silver medallist Davies found herself ahead in the closing stages, but Smith overhauled her by going three from three in the clean & jerks.

 Smith produced a last effort of 128k despite suffering from a pulled muscle. The lift secured her a silver medal in that segment and propelled her into a podium position overall.

Romania secured a one-two finish as World Champion Loredana Toma won her third straight European title while her compatriot Irina Lepsa took silver. Davies finished just off the podium in 4^th.

The result takes Smith’s European trophy count to four as she previously bagged a brace of bronze medals at Tel Aviv in 2014.

There was also some strong results for Great Britain’s other athletes. Hannah Powell took 4^th in the snatch stage of the W45kg division with a lift of 83kg. She finished 6^th overall just 4kg shy of the podium.

Commonwealth Gold medallist Gareth Evans topped the M67kg B group by lifting a combined weight of 285kg. He finished 8^th in the final rankings.  Haroon Siraj also competed in the same class, but unfortunately failed to produce a total after snatching 115kg.

2017 British Champion Amy Williams finished 13^th in the W55kg category with a snatch of 75kg and a clean & jerk 98kg.  Olivia Blatch also secured a top 20 ranking in the W59kg group.

Kelly-Jo Robson produced the 6^th best snatch in the W49kg class with an effort of 70kg but failed to secure a classified result in the clean & jerks.

Sally Bennet finished 5^th in the W71kg B group with a total of 188kg. That competition resumes later today with Emily Godley, Jack Oliver and Chris Murray all in action.

BWL would like to thank UK Sport and the National Lottery for the funding provided via the new Aspiration Fund which was awarded to support athletes to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.  This fund has been used to send a number of our athletes to the European Weightlifting Championships to support their Olympic ambitions.

Hear from Bronze medallist Zoe Smith here