The European Weightlifting Federation -EWF- held two competitions this past week: the 2026 British Championships, staged in Telford, and the 15th Mediterranean Weightlifting Cup, organised in Ismailia. Both events combined competition, institutional presence and decisions linked to the development of future international events.
The British Championships brought together around 300 athletes at the Telford International Centre, as part of the qualification process for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, while the Mediterranean Cup gathered more than 30 participants from the Mediterranean region in Egypt. The two events also had a relevant organisational dimension: the first through work on three-platform competitions and the new identity of British Weight Lifting, and the second through the decisions adopted at the Congress of the Mediterranean Weightlifting Confederation.
Telford hosts the British Championships with a three-platform format
The 2026 British Championships took place on 16 and 17 May with the participation of the leading weightlifters from the United Kingdom and invited foreign athletes, including the junior team from the United States. The event was held across three competition platforms and was attended by the president of the EWF, Astrit Hasani, who was invited by the chair of British Weight Lifting, the mayor of Telford and Wrekin, Eileen Callear, and the chief executive of British Weight Lifting and member of the Executive Board of the International Weightlifting Federation -IWF-, Matthew Curtain.
Hasani thanked the organisers for the invitation and highlighted “the excellent organisation of the competition across three platforms”. He also said that the decision of the EWF Executive Board to create a working group dedicated to the organisation of future European competitions on three platforms represents “a positive and forward-looking step”, with the aim of receiving contributions from other national federations and preparing proposals for consideration by the IWF.
The Telford event also served to present British Weight Lifting’s brand refresh, a visual update linked to the organisation’s history, which dates back to 1910. The British federation introduced a new identity designed to modernise and strengthen its institutional image for the future. The redesign included a new logo, an updated colour palette, typography, iconography, photography style and promotional materials.
The Mediterranean Cup looks to Taranto 2026
The 15th Mediterranean Weightlifting Cup was held from 12 to 16 May in Ismailia, simultaneously with the African Weightlifting Championships. The competition used the same venue that had recently hosted the IWF World Junior Championships, where European athletes had a significant presence and achieved strong results.
The event was preceded by the Congress of the Mediterranean Weightlifting Confederation, where several relevant decisions were adopted. Among them, it was confirmed that Greece will host the 2027 edition of the Mediterranean Cup, while the Weightlifting Federation of Portugal was officially admitted as a member of the Confederation.
Pyrros Dimas presents the qualification system for 2030
The Congress also featured the presentation of the qualification system for the 2030 Mediterranean Games by the president of the Mediterranean Weightlifting Confederation and three-time Olympic champion, Pyrros Dimas. The stated objective was to ensure greater representation for weightlifting within the future programme of the Games.
The competition in Ismailia also served as a lead-in to the main event of the season for Mediterranean weightlifters: the Taranto 2026 Mediterranean Games, scheduled for late August and early September. The Italian event will mark a new reference point for the discipline within the regional Mediterranean calendar.
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