Evans delivers in Minsk

In his first major senior International  Championships for Great Britain, Gareth Evans (Holyhead, Wales)  stepped up to the mark to finish in the top 14 at the European Championships today in Minsk,  in the 62kg category.  Following on from his strong performance at the Welsh Championships he opened comfortably with a 105kg snatch, moving up to 108kg he again looked comfortable,  his final snatch of 111kg he just held to give a new PB of 4kg.  Third athlete out in the Clean and Jerk he easily lifted his opener of 130kg, moving up to 135kg he struggled out of the clean and got the jerk to equal his PB.  Moving up to 137kg he had only one other lifter between his 2nd and 3rd attempts, with a much better clean he stood up easily, balanced himself and punched out the jerk, however his right arm did not fully lock out and the bar dropped to the right.   His total was a new PB by 6kg and puts him into the top 10 in the 62kg class in the Commonwealth Rankings for the first time.

Gareth quoted “I am really happy with my snatch as it was really important to get all 3 attempts, I felt strong in my cleans so was disappointed not to hold the 137kg jerk.   I just want to thank, Ray Williams, my coach back home in Holyhead, plus Tamas Feher and Maggie Lynes who took me out onto the platform.”

Tamas Feher, Head Coach for Great Britain, was very pleased with Evans performance and how they had worked together throughout the event, as this was Feher’s first experience of working with Evans.

 With the final of the 62kg class this evening, live results can be found on this link, the A groups of the European Championships are also being shown all week on Eurosport, consult your TV guide for times.  For those of you who get frustrated not being able to see the scoreboard on Eurosport, during the event, try watching Eurosport with the live results coming up on your computer.

Joanne Calvino has moved into 8th place following the A group of the 53kg Category today, the event was won by Turkish lifter,  Aylin Dasdelen with a total of  28kg (88kg snatch, 120kg C&J).

 Helen Jewell (Ivybridge) lifts tomorrow in the 58kg Category, and is looking forward to building on the solid performance she had at the English Championships in February.