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Patricia SAMPAIO (POR) ended up being the star of the show in the -78kg category, she had a tough opponent in Anna Monta OLEK (GER) who has been bounding up the ranks, but it was the Olympic bronze medallist who claimed the European title with a seoi nage.
This year I had set myself two goals, a European gold and World gold, now I’ve checked one of them off, but I still can’t believe it. After the Olympic Games medal, I had no words and here I am again and I still haven’t found them! I really felt so strong today and I good in myself, in my head, I know I’ve grown so much in the past year and now I have the medal to show for it. It has all been down to work work work. I did it!
Yuliia KURCHENKO (UKR) was the first in the -78kg category to claim the bronze medal, defeating Emma REID (GBR) with a huge, driving o uchi gari. Next was an all-French head to head between Fanny Estelle POSVITE and five-time European Champion, Audrey TCHEUMEO. Posvite had the record before but has now added yet another win, throwing Tcheumeo for osoto otoshi to take the medal.
A head to head for the ages. Zelym KOTSOIEV (AZE) and Ilia SULAMANIDZE (GEO) always deliver an exciting performance, and today was no different. The crowd gasped as Sulamanidze used some spectacular ashi waza to throw his opponent, yet the over spin left the score as a yuko. For the remainder of the contest, Sulamanidze continued on his quest for gold, and Kotsoiev simply couldn’t find an answer, leaving Georgia to take home another gold medal from Podgorica!
I was so so tired, when you score, they always come back so hard to attack! Zelym is such a great guy, he is a good person and good judoka so I’m happy that this was the final. But I’m even happier now I have the gold medal, I don’t have one in a major championships and I think I needed it for my mentality. We didn’t do 100% preparation for this because we will have harder training now for the World Championships but I felt good and I think this was just really good for me.
For Team Netherlands, Simeon CATHARINA pulled it out of the bag against Arman ADAMIAN (IJF), after a win against the former World Champion in Tbilisi, Catharina was feeling confident in the head to head, though admitted after countering an attack, with two and a half minutes left on the clock, he knew it would be so difficult as Adamian ‘comes at you like a train!’ Gennaro PIRELLI (ITA) helped Team Italy on day four to level their medal tally total from 2002, after an exhausting battle against Anton SAVYTSKIY (UKR), a gruelling six and half minutes going full throttle, he managed to throw with kata guruma for a bronze medal win.
She did it. Again. It’s a continued record for Romane DICKO of France who succeeded for the fifth time to win the European title against long time rival, Raz HERSHKO (ISR).
I could feel the pressure in the final, I know that she [Hershko] is always looking for a way to defeat me, and in the start of the fight she was really stopping me from doing my thing, and I needed to find a way to manage this. It is insane to think I’ve done this, to win every time and it gets harder when they know how I am fighting. I really hope I can do this at the World Championships.
Asya TAVANO (ITA) was the lucky number eight for Italy, breaking their European Championship medal tally record! She had great control in her contest against Marit KAMPS (NED), who picked up two shidos before Tavano settled in for the osae komi with 30 seconds left on the clock. Elis STARTSEVA (IJF) had a tough job stopping France adding yet another medal to their collection, but secured her win and helped her own team reach the top of the medal table for these Championships by throwing with a huge harai goshi that Lea FONTAINE (FRA) stood no chance of escaping.
Inal TASOEV (IJF) defended his title today, the former World Champion and the one to beat today was victorious over many top athletes including double Olympic Champion Lukas KRPALEK (CZE), but in the final he had to face team mate, Valerii ENDOVITSKII. In a golden score dual, it was his signature ashi waza, a beautiful sasae tsuri komi ashi that brought him another gold.
This third gold medal is very meaningful for me. I had two silver and two gold in my collection and now I have three gold. Each competition I enter I go in to win the gold because for me no other medal exists. I always give a 100 percent and I go for the gold, no matter which competition it is, if it is a local tournament or the world championships. Today was very special for me. There were a lot of emotions inside that accumulated for a very long time and today they all came out.
He didn’t make it on top of the podium, but ne waza expert, Krpalek, did not leave without a medal, demonstrating his skills on the ground against Yevheniy BALYEVSKYY (UKR), adding a seventh medal to his continental championship collection. The second bronze medal went to Erik ABRAMOV (GER), but it was a close call against Ushangi KOKAURI (AZE). Abramov scored yuko first with ko goto gake which was then trumped by Kokauri, who scored waza ari with some te waza, attempting to use the leg for uchi mata. However, Abramov found his moment merely 30 seconds later, as the Azerbaijan representative overstretched his leg and was countered for a huge ippon.
At the end of the individual competition, the IJF team finished on top of the medal table, followed by France and Georgia, the hosts of the 2026 European Judo Championships in Tbilisi.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen