The bronze medallist from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games won the women’s 75 kilogram title at the Arena Gripe in Split, adding to the podium topping performances she achieved in the 2014 and 2015 tournaments.

Valentin, who has also won three European silvers and three bronzes, lifted a combined weight of 252kg to finish 14kg ahead of her nearest challenger.

The Spaniard, fourth at the 2012 Olympics in London 2012 but who has since been awarded the gold medal following the disqualification of the three original medal winners after drug retests, had the second best lift in the snatch with 115kg, putting her five behind Iryna Dekha of the Ukraine.

Valentin, who also now has the Beijing 2008 silver medal after drug re-tests altered the results, added a 137kg effort in the clean and jerk to shoot to the top in the Croatian city.

Dekha, the defending champion, tried to lift the same weight on all three of her attempts but failed on each occasion to finish outside the medals.

The silver medal went to Russia’s Mariia Vostrikova with a combined weight of 238kg, while Armenia’s Sona Poghosyan came third a further 11kg behind.

In the men’s 85kg competition, Ukrainian Oleksandr Pielieshenko successfully defended his title.

He lifted the best weight in the snatch with 175kg before combining this with a clean and jerk effort of 211kg.

The latter lift was one kilogram lower than Russia’s Artem Okulov, but the 2015 world champion’s overall total was nine kilograms smaller than his rival.

With a combined lift of 358kg, Poland’s Krzysztof Zwarycz finished third overall.

Action at the Championship is due to continue tomorrow with the men’s 94kg and women’s 90kg categories taking to the stage.