A native of Cotovskoe village (ATU Gagauzia), Nicolae Frangou was represented in the weight category up to 74 kg. In the discipline “long cycle with two kettlebells weighing 32 kg each”, the Moldovan athlete became the winner with 51 lifts, nine more than Ion Zgardan, representing Italy. Another representative of Italy, Francesco De Caro, was third with 41 lifts.
Frangu also became the European champion in the discipline of “32 kg kettlebell snatch for 12 minutes”, having lifted the apparatus 196 times. De Caro was second with 180 lifts, while Ukraine’s Oleg Kyryk took third place with 167 lifts.
Thus, the 29-year-old Moldovan kettlebell lifter defended the title he won last year in Pescara (Italy). He is a four-time European champion among professionals, four-time world champion among amateurs and two-time winner of the continental championship among amateurs.
Two Moldovan athletes climbed the podium in the discipline “long cycle with one kettlebell weighing 24 kg” among amateurs in the category up to 87 kg. The winner was the employee of the Border Police Maxim Cornei, who performed 130 lifts. Valeriu Cebotaru won the bronze medal with 111 lifts. He lost the silver medal to Micael Rodrigues from Portugal, who performed two more lifts (113).
Kornei also won a silver medal in the discipline of “pushing one kettlebell weighing 24 kg for 30 minutes”. He managed to do 531 lifts, 27 less than the winner Rodriguez. Sergiu Coade finished the competition in third position (311).
In the same discipline in the weight category over 87 kg Artem Gritsenko took the third place with 65 lifts. The winner was James Sandels from England, who lifted the weight 115 times, Daniel Grzedzinski from Poland was second (110).
The incomplete podium in the discipline “24 kg kettlebell snatch within 12 minutes” among amateurs in the category up to 74 kg was made by Moldovan athletes Serghei Antonciuc and Alexander Kravets. Only they fought for the gold medal in this discipline, the outcome of the confrontation was decided by a difference of seven lifts. Antonciuc lifted the kettlebell 211 times and became the champion, while Kravets made 204 lifts during the same time.
Valeriu Cebotaru won in the same discipline in the category up to 87 kg. He performed 228 lifts in 12 minutes. His national team colleague Igor Ionaszko with 190 lifts took the third place. Marco Carioti from Italy won the silver medal (220).
Roman Morar won the silver medal in the heaviest category – over 87 kg. The athlete lifted the weight 237 times in 12 minutes. Julius Optas from Lithuania, who became the champion, performed 30 more lifts in the same time. Poland’s Lukasz Komenda, who took the third place, did two lifts less than the representative of Moldova.
The competitions in the discipline “long cycle with two kettlebells weighing 24 kg” among amateurs were closely fought for the champion’s award. The winner was Mihail Muntean Senior, who performed 99 lifts in 12 minutes. Lukas Komenda has one less lift. Lithuanian Marius Bartulis, who became the third, also lacked one lift (97) to fight for a higher place. In the 30-minute “long cycle with two hands” Muntean Sr. failed to win. During the allotted time he lifted the weight 423 times, losing to Filip Bazan from Poland. Komenda won the bronze medal.
Alexandru Frasiniuc, another border guard in the Moldovan national team, became the triumphant of the competition in the discipline “24 kg kettlebell snatch for 30 minutes” among amateurs. He has 485 lifts on his account. The Pole Lukasz Kobylinski, who came second, managed to perform 449 cyclic exercises with the apparatus.
The Moldovan adult team (Nicolae Frangou, Mihail Muntean Sr., Vladimir German and Maxim Cornei) was the third in the team competition. In four approaches of three minutes each, the kettlebell lifters demonstrated the result of 126.4. The Ukrainian team became the winner of the competition (189), Italy – the second (151).
In the masters competition (from 40 to 49 years old) in the discipline “long cycle with kettlebell weighing 24 kg” Ion Sidorchuk climbed to the second step of the podium, having performed 200 lifts. Lang Heinz-Peter from Austria won with a big gap – he performed 349 lifts.
Mikhail Suprovich became the best among masters (from 60 to 69 years old) in the discipline “kettlebell biathlon”. He won with a score of 387.136. Pyotr Bahrii from Ukraine took the second place (370.563). Moldova’s Victor Friniuc completed the podium with a score of 387.136. Suprovich also won the “24 kg single kettlebell push for 30 minutes” discipline in the same age category. Having lifted the shell 664 times, he was stronger than his compatriot Viktor Graur (539) and Ukraine’s Mykola Lukyanov (202).
In addition to the silver medal, Graur won a bronze medal in the long cycle with a 16 kg kettlebell. He performed 130 cyclic exercises with the apparatus. The first two places were taken by representatives of Ukraine Mykola Trufen and Serhiy Garkavyi.
The holder of numerous world records Mykola Byrliba won gold and silver medals in the discipline “16 kg kettlebell snatch” among masters (from 60 to 69 years old) – 30 and 12 minutes respectively. Within half an hour he performed 513 lifts, while his only rival – Moldavian Victor Friniuc – managed to do 399. Byrliba lifted 254 times in 12 minutes, 13 less than the winner Hansen Jorn West of Denmark. Ukraine’s Trufen was third with 230 lifts.
The younger generation also managed to make a name for themselves. Alexander Kroitor took the third place in the discipline “24 kg kettlebell snatch for 12 minutes” among athletes aged 16 to 18 years. He has 112 lifts to his credit. Gheorghe Zhuley in the same age category became the silver medalist in the discipline “long cycle with kettlebell 24 kg”, he performed 99 lifts. Dorin Nistor, who came third, performed 47 lifts less.
Their peers took almost the entire podium in the discipline “pushing one 24 kg kettlebell for 30 minutes”. Maxim Andrieş performed 363 lifts in the allotted time and won the gold medal. Denis Cojocaru managed to perform 252 exercises with the apparatus, which allowed him to take the third place.
Mihail Muntean Jr. and Ioan Surkichin won silver and bronze medals in the discipline “jerk of 16 kg kettlebell for 12 minutes” among boys of 14-15 years old, having done 241 and 209 lifts respectively. Both took the same positions in the discipline “long cycle with two kettlebells weighing 16 kg”: Muntean Jr. made 60 lifts, Surkichin – 27. Alexander Zibricki won in a similar discipline with one kettlebell, which he lifted 405 times.
It is noteworthy that Surkichin and Zibritski won in two disciplines, where they were the only competitors. Surkichin became the European champion among boys 14-15 years old on an alternative basis in the discipline “pushing one kettlebell weighing 24 kg for 30 minutes”, having performed 333 lifts. Zibricki, in turn, was represented in the discipline “snatch of one kettlebell weighing 16 kg for 30 minutes” and performed 303 cyclic exercises.
The tournament also included a tournament among athletes with disabilities. Moldovan para-athletes Oleg Reileanu, Denis Raiul, Mihail Tsurcan, Igor Bouros and Sergiu Bors became European champions in different categories. The silver medal winners were Marin Andronaki, Stefan Rosca, Valeriu Buruian, Andrei Valentir and Pavel Zaimu.
The objectivity of the results during the tournament was ensured by the National Anti-Doping Agency of Moldova (ANAD), with which the WKSF signed a contract on the eve of the championship to conduct tests to detect banned substances in blood.
The Open European Kettlebell Lifting Championship under the aegis of WKSF was held in Moldova for the first time. During three days, 257 athletes from 16 countries competed for medals at the Chișinău Arena. The Moldovan national team was represented by 34 athletes and took the fourth place in the final team standings (see table). According to the official data, no money prizes were awarded to the medalists. Information about the budget of the tournament has not been made public. Financial support was provided by the Ministry of Education and Research.
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TOP-10 national teams according to the results of the EuropeanOpen Kettlebell Lifting Championship in Chisinau (05.12 – 07.12.2025) |
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№ |
National team |
Total number of points |
|
1 |
Ukraine |
1465 |
|
2 |
Italy |
1165 |
|
3 |
Poland |
720 |
|
4 |
Moldova |
482,5 |
|
5 |
England |
287,5 |
|
6 |
Lithuania |
160 |
|
7 |
Romania |
125 |
|
8-9 |
Scotland |
120 each |
| Denmark | ||
|
10 |
Germany |
117,5 |
