The three-time Olympic medallist, a beaten finalist at Rio 2016, proved too strong for Ilona Semkiv of the Ukraine in the final at the Spens Sports Hall.

Stadnik, world champion in 2009, dominated the contest from start to finish as she won by technical fall.

The bronze medals in the weight division went to Federika Petersson of Sweden and Romania's Alina Vuc.

While Stadnik stood at the top of the podium at the European Wrestling Championships for the seventh event in a row, Polish veteran Monika Michalik clinched her first continental crown since 2009.

Michalik, who earned bronze at last year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, secured her fourth continental title by virtue of a narrow 3-2 triumph over Taybe Yusein of Bulgaria in the final of the women's 63kg competition to mark her 37th birthday in style.

Sara Da Col of Italy and Yulia Tkach of the Ukraine were the recipients of the two bronze medals on offer.

Giorgi Edisherashvili of Georgia claimed his second European gold as he reigned supreme in the men's freestyle 57kg category.

The Georgian wrestler saved his best performance until last, comfortably sweeping aside Andrei Dukov of Romania with a 9-0 victory in the final.

Zaur Uguev bagged Russia's first medal of the evening of finals by taking home one of the two available bronze medals, while Turkey's Suleyman Atli, the European under-23 champion, also climbed onto the podium.

Dauren Kurugliev then ensured the Russian team would finish the opening day of the event in the Serbian city with a European crown to their name as he won the men's 86kg tournament.

The 24-year-old had never tasted success at the event before but changed that record by beating Aleksander Gostiev of Azerbaijan, who was forced to settle for silver for the second straight European Championships, 6-0.

Selim Yasar of Turkey and Hungary's Istvan Vereb both did enough for bronze.

The event continues tomorrow.