The overall medal table of the IBSA Grand Prix Heidelberg 2024 is led by the Peoples Republic of China after winning three gold, two silver and a bronze medal. Ukraine took second spot whilst Brazil claimed third place, respectively. Three nations from three different continents dominated. This itself speaks volume. Gold medal performances were also delivered by Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, and Germany. The total tally of Europe came to four gold, eight silver and 13 bronze medals.
The elite level continued throughout day two of the competition and although the continent had a few opportunities to venture for victory, Anastasiia HARNYK (UKR) has single handily took care of the matter summing her total mat time to be a little over a minute in the J1 +70kg category. During her first round which was also the quarter-final stage, Harnyk overcome Roma SISKA (INA) in 11 seconds. The semi-final brought Danitza Yoccelin SANABRIA ALCALA (VEN) to face the double world champion Ukrainian judoka who secured her spot in the final within 27 seconds. The final battle also ended quickly [32 seconds] as Harnyk (UKR) followed up her te-waza move into a mune-gatame, giving no chance to Nazan AKIN GUNES (TUR) to test her for gold.
Heidelberg once again confirmed their status of being the city of para sports as they delivered a premium qualifying event for para judo. The next stop for these top-class judoka is Antalya from 1-2 April 2024. With qualifying points being doubled for this year, this race is far from over.
Images: Ralf Kuckuck, DBS
Author: Szandra Szogedi