Muslu, who won gold in the old -40kg category at London 2012, broke the record of 90kg on her first lift, before going on to better her new world record with her second lift.

The 33-year-old was understandably happy with her performance, and she sent a warning shot to her competition following her record-breaking lift.

"I certainly didn't have any problems today and the result was very good for me," she said.

"After that performance, I'm not afraid of any of the other powerlifters, but rather they should be afraid of me."

Ukraine's Maryna Kopiika took silver but was well behind Muslu, lifting 78kg, followed by another Turkish athlete, Ebru Basar, who took bronze with a best lift of 76kg.

Elsewhere, a new European record was set by Vladimir Balynetc of Russia, as he absorbed the support from his home crowd to lift 160kg and take the gold medal- just 2kg short of the world record.

Russia's Vladimir Balynetc was spurred on by his home crowd to take a new European record

As for the future of the event, which has not been held for six years, IPC Chief Executive Officer Xavier Gonzalez spoke on the importantce of building on the success of last summer's Paralympic Games.

"Since London, IPC Powerlifting's aim has been to build a structured and well-populated competition calendar so that the world's best athletes can compete against each other on a regular basis." he said.

"I'm delighted to say that this is the first European Championships since 2007, and our plan now is to stage this event every two years."

The action continues in Russia, and you can stream footage from the event on the IPC YouTube Channel.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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