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On the third and final day of the Baku Grand Slam 2025, the remaining weight categories decided the final fate of the medal table, though there was no catching Japan, given their six-gold lead, there was an opportunity for some changes among the rest. In the end, Japan completed their takeover with nine of the 14 available gold, Germany in second place and the hosts, Azerbaijan in third. The weight change stories continued, as did the success that came with it, many athletes very happy with their decisions.
The -90kg category immediately welcomed Frank DE WIT (NED) in his new weight against Islam SOGENOV (SRB) for the first of the bronze medals. De Wit was looking a lot more comfortable in -90kg on day three, especially against the handy Sogenov, and unfortunately for the latter he was unable to rival the contest management of the Dutch European silver medallist and suffered as they delved in to golden score. It was an o uchi gari from De Wit that brought him his first medal in his new category!
Europe were guaranteed a second bronze medal, from either Kenny Komi BEDEL (ITA) or Artur KANEVETS (FIN), and it was a strong start for Bedel, countering an o uchi gari from his Finnish opponent. He then doubled his score with uchi mata, still in the first half of the contest, and incredibly, within another minute, his uchi mata brought him a waza ari. Kanevets still did not admit defeat however and continued to bring the fight to Bedel, but it wasn’t to be, instead it ended with huge celebrations in Team Italy, with the first IJF World Judo Tour medal for Bedel.
Elisavet TELTSIDOU (GRE) tried her luck at -78kg and found herself in the bronze contest against Yuliia KURCHENKO (UKR), and though she struggled in the opening minutes, ceding two shidos, she managed to pull it back with a soto makikomi to score yuko. This appeared to give the -70kg European silver medallist the confidence she needed as she soon ended the contest with a huge sode tsurikomi goshi. In the second bronze medal contest, Lieke DERKS (NED) came through to fight UMEKI Mami (JPN), and was the initial scorer with a huge ko uchi gake. In Paris, Derks took an incredible bronze medal, but the 21 year-old lacked the experience of Umeki, who tied Derks up in ne waza before securing the arm lock.
In the -78kg final, it was an all-German affair between Alina BOEHM and Anna Monta OLEK. As in the last cycle, Germany can continue to boast of their wealth of talent in this category, and the fight continues on to LA 2028. Boehm has already laid claim to two European titles, however Olek is still relatively fresh on the scene and was a surprise as she qualified for the Paris Games. As predicted it was a tough head to head, and only a slick de ashi barai separated the pair, allowing Olek to claim yet another Grand Slam medal, and really give chase to her team mates.
The National Gymnastics Arena came to life for the second bronze medal contest in the -100kg category as Azhdar BAGHIROV (AZE) made his way to the tatami against Niiaz BILALOV (IJF). The pair picked up a shido each, and despite the crowd support, it was Bilalov that put a score on the board and eventually took the win.
It was over somewhat quickly in the opening bronze medal contest in the +78kg category, Milica ZABIC (SRB) put herself in a sticky situation by picking up two shidos in just over a minute and though she went for the o soto gari attack, Marit KAMPS (NED) countered to score the ippon. Next up, Helena VUKOVIC (CRO) took on Sophio SOMKHISHVILI (GEO), the latter falling behind on the pace to pick up the first shido. In the final, Hilal OZTURK (TUR) took on TAKAHASHI Ruri (JPN), however Takahashi was really gunning for her first Grand Slam gold and scored first with ashi guruma before transitioning straight in to osae komi.
The only medal to come back to Europe in the +100kg category came from Tamerlan BASHAEV (IJF) who lead a great final against OTA Hyoga (JPN). It looked very promising for Bashaev but following a minute of golden score, Ota found his opportunity to score yuko with sumi gaeshi.
For the IJF World Judo Tour, the next stop is Tashkent between the 28th of February and 2nd of March, but for the European Judo Union, athletes will be collecting their world ranking points in thr Warsaw European Open on the 22nd and 23rd of February.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen