Rafik Harutyunyan to Compete Today at the 2025 European Championship: Armenia’s Hope in the 81kg Category

Today, April 17, at the 2025 European Weightlifting Championship in Chișinău, one of Armenia’s leading athletes — Rafik Harutyunyan — will step onto the platform. The 24-year-old lifter, competing in the 81 kg weight category, is the 2022 European Champion and a bronze medalist of the last two championships — in 2023 and 2024.

This time, his main rivals will be the current European champion — Oscar Reyes from Italy — and last year’s silver medalist — Kristi Ramadani from Albania. Rafik has declared a total of 355 kg — exactly what he lifted when he won the European title back in 2021. However, it’s worth noting that over the past two years, he hasn’t come close to that mark (with totals of 337 kg and 336 kg).

Fans of the Armenian national team are hoping that Harutyunyan has fully recovered from a series of injuries and will perform at his best.

The competition will begin at 8:00 PM Yerevan time.

So far, Team Armenia has won three major medals at the 2025 European Championship: two silver and one bronze.