Spain delivers like never before in Madrid

Despite the absence of some top athletes from Spain, the host country did end as first in the medal table with five gold medals. There were some attractive names on the podium in general and Spain in general is a popular destination for training camps, it’s a hub for international athletes and Madrid as a capital is an outstanding city to host a European Cup. Madrid is back since 2018.

The Spanish women couldn’t complain with four gold medals, more than ever in the history of the European Cup in Madrid, but maybe it says something about the quality of the field as well, although the field was full, but not with athletes ranked high.

Julia Figueroa (ESP) claimed the first gold medal against Joana Diogo (POR) in the category U52kg, and that gave space to Laura Martinez Abelenda (ESP) who was in the final of the category U48kg against Katharina Menz (GER), but the German won that final. Germany was efficient as it took another gold medal U57kg by Jana Ziegler (GER) who overcame Olivia Gertsch (SUI).

He Then Spanish greed was shown resulting in three gold medals for the Spanish athletes. Cristina Cabaña (ESP) resisted another german athlete, Agatha Schmidt and claimed the gold U63kg.

Ai Tsunoda (ESP) was an expected medal but still very mature to beat María Pérez (PUR), a world class player and former World Championships finalist Maria Bernabeu (ESP) finished third as well as Alina Lengweiler (SUI).

Again it was Germany that caught it’s third gold medal, this tine for women U78kg by Teresa Zenker (GER) against Linda Politi (ITA). Spanish heavyweight Nisrin Bousbaa Dab claimed the gold medal against Moira Morillo (DOM).

In the men’s division France walked away with two gold medals, but with six winning nations, there was a good distribution. Among the men’s lightweights Nurdaulet Amankossov (KAZ) celebrated gold against Nazir Talibov (AZE), two Frenchman took bronze: Maxime Merlin (FRA) and Romaric Bouda. (FRA).

Walide Khyar cemented another victory in the final against India’s Nitin Chauhan, a unique performance of Chauhan.

Nils Stump (SUI) has been developing for years and is always among the candidates in the IJF World Tour, this level should be possible for the Swiss judoka and he simply delivered on Saturday in Madrid in the final against Joan-Benjamin Gaba (FRA).

The most stunning name on the medal ceremony papers was Loïc Pietri (FRA). Former World Champion from 2013, Pietri managed to be highest on the podium in the U81kg category and was absolutely untouchable. He won himself five matches today in the weight category that had 46 athletes. In the final he overcame Askerbiy Gerbekov, now fighting for Bahrain.

Tristani Mosakhlishvili (ESP) was the only Spanish gold medallist, another exotic athlete with a Georgian background. He was in the Georgian team at the European Junior Team Championships in Maribor in 2017. Mosakhlishvili won his the final U90kg against Artem Bubyr (UKR).

Former European Junior champion (2016) and World Junior number one Aaron Fara of Austria has gained the reputation of being world-class in training only, not at competitions. No podium place since 2018, no top-7-resultat for more than 3 years. In Madrid he eventually delivered, winning the U100 category in style with new coaches around him Robert Krawczyk and Felipe Kitadai, both former world class judoka, winning World Champion and Olympic medals. Fara won the last contest against Clément Delvert of France in a strong field, full of French talent: Aurelien Diesse (FRA) and Joris Agbegnenou (FRA) took bronze medals.

Jelle Snippe (NED) defeated Oleksii Halaka (UKR) in the final for men +100kg, which is a great motivation in that competitive plus category in the Netherlands with Roy Meyer and Jur Spijkers. Snippe is a world traveller and like these circumstances and delivered with a splendid gold medal for the Netherlands.