Sara Yenigün

Sara Yenigün (born 1 October 2002) is a Turkish weightlifter competing in the 81 kg division.

Personal life
Born on 1 October 2002, Sara Yenigün is a native of Seyhan, Adana. She attended Şehit Zafer Oluk Middle School in her hometown. After completing her secondary education, she started studying Sport coaching at the Physical Education College of the Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University.

Sport career
Yenigün was impressed while watching students exercising this sport in her school. Although told by the boys that this sport is not for girls, she started weightlifting with the advice of her gym teacher in 2015. The same year, she became champion in the 58 kg division of her age category at the Turkish Intraschool Championships. In 2021, she became the Turkish Juniors champion in the 81 kg, and in 2022 Turkish senior women champion in the 87 kg division.

She is a member of Adana Gençlik Spor Club, and exercise in the Turkey Olympics Preparation Center (Türkiye Olimpik Hazırlık Merkezi, TOHM) in Konya.

Yenigün debuted internationally in Europe championships in 2017, and competed in 2018 as well. She received the silver medal in the 71 kg clean & jerk event and the bronze medal in total at the 2019 European Youth Weightlifting Championships held in Eilat, Israel. She competed in the 88 kg division at the 2021 Junior World Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan ranking fifth. The same year in Rovaniemi, Finnland, she won the bronze medal in the snatch, the gold medal in the clean & jerk event taking the silver medal in total of the Juniors 81 kg division. Despite the serious injuries she suffered in 2022, she captured all three gold medals that year in the Juniors 87 kg division at the European Junior & U23 Weightlifting Championships in Durrës, Albania. She took the bronze medal in the 87 kg clean & jerk event at the 2022 Junior World Weightlifting Championships in Heraklion, Greece. She took the bronze medal in the 81 kg clean & jerk event at the 2023 European Weightlifting Championships in Yerevan, Armenia.