She is 18 years old and has so far only been ranked 24th in the IJF junior rankings: Sara-Joy Bauer (GER/-63). “2023 was a year to forget, to be honest. I severely injured my elbow, had to have an operation and lost about five months of training. The fact that I can now call myself European Junior champion is completely surreal. I was still very much in doubt at the end, never dreaming that I could win today.”
The accident happened at the beginning of 2023, during final training, two days before the German Championships. Sara-Joy Bauer was only able to compete in two tournaments last year, with a fifth place at the Junior European Cup in Berlin in July being the highest of the highs. This year, consistency has slowly but surely returned. The 18-year-old from Stuttgart has stood on the podium three times at Junior European Cup tournaments and has finished fifth and seventh three other times.
Her luck finally returned in Tallinn. The quick ippon opening victory over Maud Lavrijssen (NED) helped. “From then on, I found my rhythm and got better from fight to fight. From the second round at the latest, I thought a surprise was possible today.”
A good four hours later, the surprise was perfect and Bauer rubbed her eyes in amazement. “The words: I’m European champion, still don’t come easily to me. I can hardly believe that I’m sitting here now waiting for the award ceremony.”
For the German, the European Championships Juniors title also means that she qualified at the last moment for the World Championships Juniors in Dushanbe in October. ‘I didn’t really expect that either. But now, of course, I want to present myself there in a manner befitting my status.’
A top 7 finish is the modest goal. Just like Friday morning in Tallinn. Sara-Joy would have been perfectly happy with a seventh place there too. Now she is a champion.
Author: EJU Media