Rafik Harutyunyan Wins Silver Medal at 2025 European Weightlifting Championships

Rafik Harutyunyan, representing Armenia at the European Weightlifting Championships in Chișinău, Moldova, claimed the silver medal and the title of European vice-champion in the men’s 81 kg weight class.

The 2022 European champion registered a total of 343 kg in the combined event, with 158 kg in the snatch and 185 kg in the clean and jerk.

In the snatch, Harutyunyan successfully lifted 150 kg on his first attempt. For the second attempt, coach Pashik Alaverdyan added 5 kg, and Harutyunyan completed the lift at 155 kg. On his third attempt, he lifted 158 kg, earning the small silver medal in the snatch. He narrowly missed gold in this event by just 1 kg, finishing behind Italy's Oscar Martinez Reyes.

In the clean and jerk, Harutyunyan started confidently with a 185 kg lift. However, he failed his second and third attempts at 192 kg, which were also called by coach Alaverdyan. As a result, he placed fourth in this exercise.

The title was claimed once again by Italy’s Oscar Martinez Reyes, who secured gold with a combined total of 349 kg (159+190).

Rafik Harutyunyan is a two-time U23 European champion and a bronze medalist at the World Junior Championships. In 2022, he became European champion with a total of 354 kg (160+194) in Tirana, Albania. In 2023, he won bronze in Yerevan with 337 kg (150+187), and in 2024, he again took bronze at the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, with 336 kg (154+182).

So far, the Armenian national team has claimed four medals in the current European Championships—three silver and one bronze. The first medal came from Alexandra Grigoryan, who was named Europe’s Best Young Weightlifter of 2024 and earned silver in the women’s 59 kg category with a total of 202 kg (85+117). Garnik Cholakyan won bronze with 275 kg (124+151), and Gor Sahakyan secured silver with a total of 338 kg (153+185).