The European Judo Championships Kata Sarajevo 2024 is officially concluded with Netherlands, France and Germany being the final line up on the overall medal table. There was plenty to look out for from cadets, juniors and senior competitors. Lets hear from some of our winners;
Nage-no-Kata Cadet winning pair, Davia FIGLIE – Ambre LEDEZ (FRA) are from Corsica, small island, part of France. The pair were delighted to win the European title;
We are really really happy, we have been training very hard, two hours a day. The hard work paid off today, we are filled with joy.
Nage-no-Kata Junior winning pair, Elisa PLATTFAUT – Jaime DEN RIDDER (GER) have been practicing kata for five years. Today, they took their first European glory;
We can’t believe that we won. We have been practicing a lot. We are actually not from the same judo club so we need to make arrangements where we go for practice. Now we will celebrate this victory with the whole team.
Katame-no-Kata winners, Nicolas GILON – Jean Philippe GILON (BEL) collected their 21st European title in Sarajevo.
We are really happy it is a huge satisfaction to be here and to finish on top of the podium. This title has a special touch to it becuase we could not train as we wanted to due to personal reasons as well as the field of competitors are really tough.
The Ju-no-Kata victory was claimed by Wolfgang DAX R. – Ursula LOOSEN (GER) for the 18th time.
We continued our routine after the world championships last year and analysed our kata. Since we live far away from each other, as we disclose that in previous years, we can only practice once a week together. However, we made sure we do physical training 4-5 times and it paid off. Everything we wanted to change we changed it and our kata was better this year than last year. We are pleased with today’s performance and must say that the organisation was excellent. Here in Sarajevo, having everything in one place, allowed us to be able to only focus on our performance.
A golden Kime-no-Kata performance was delivered by Gregory MARQUES – Stephane BEGA (FRA).
This is our 6th gold medal at the Europeans. Our preparation went well we practiced 3-4 times per week. Everything went as planned. We worked for this medal and we are very happy.
France topped their golden collection when Claude JAUME – Brice BENARD won the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu event.
We won two silver medal before so we are very happy to win gold finally. It is a good day. We have a tough competition in this group with only a few points difference. We worked hard and today everything came together for us.
Congratulations to all medallists. Full results and gallery of the event can be found via the following link. It is not the end yet in Sarajevo as the Kodokan Kata Seminar will run from 12-14 June.
Images: Dino Secic
Author: Szandra Szogedi