The 2022 European Mixed Team Champions, France, are heading to Poland this weekend to defend their title within the European Games. Last year, they had the home advantage as they performed in front of a packed arena in Mulhouse, will they be strong enough to keep their top position?
Our 213 athletes from 22 teams make up the 7000 total coming from 28 countries in this years Games in Krakow, competing in 29 disciplines. The Mixed Team event in judo is in fact one of the concluding tournaments as the multi-sport event began on the 21st of June and will finish up on the 2nd of July.
For the athletes competing in these many sports, it isn’t simply a medal on the line, but Olympic qualification is dependent on these elite performances. Arguably, Europe have some of the strongest teams with three of the world championship places taken by France, Georgia and the Netherlands. In fact it was extremely close for the French team in the final and one of their entries in the -70kg category, Margaux PINOT, will be eager to be back representing her team. As it happens she was also the final winning point in last years European Mixed Team Championships, defeating Sanne VAN DIJKE (NED) for the gold.
It will be an extraordinary event with many of the top athletes in the world fighting for this title, the collection is littered with Olympic and world medals and probably for most, this will be their last big preparation event before the IJF Masters event five weeks later. The points collected here will also contribute towards the world ranking of each of these teams, precious points as we are almost at the one year countdown for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen