At the second day of the U23 European Judo Championships in Chisinau there were 12 winning nations over the 14 weight categories, a record. The last record was achieved in 2020 with eleven winning nations.
In the final of the women -70kg category, Ingrid Nilsson of Sweden was opposed to Olga Tsimko of Ukraine. They have not fought before, and this was the career highlight for both athletes. Nilsson became only the third Swedish woman ever to reach a final of an U23 European Championship. Both her predecessors went on to win: Emma Barkeling at -63kg in 2014 and Tara Babulfath at -48kg last year. It was a good motivation for the 20-year-old Nilsson, who was strong throughout the whole day.
In the contest against Tsimko she scored a waza-ari after 90 seconds with a deep over-the-back grip and o-uchi-gari. The Ukrainian judoka had no answer in the remaining time. Nilsson had defeated Anna Oliinyk-Korniiko in the semi-final and surprised Tais Pina of Portugal in the quarter-final. After a fifth place at the World Junior Championships in Lima, this was a great comeback. She won the Youth Olympic Festival in 2022 in the same weight category and has been a consistent player in this division. She followed up with a bronze medal in Sarajevo at world level but this gold counts both for her and for Sweden, continuing the winning streak in finals.
“Each fight gave me rhythm,” she Nilsson. “I felt strong, calm, and ready to go all the way.” The fifth place finish at the junior world championships 2025 had a lot to do with today’s outcome. “That result stayed with me,” Nilsson admitted. “I wanted to prove I could turn it into something better.”
“It’s a special moment for me, for my coaches, and for Sweden,” she continued. “We have shown that Swedish judo can keep winning on the big stage. I am quite tall and this helps me in my game plan, but still I work with Sally Conway, my coach, on many strategies. Today was my day, and if you work hard, you can achieve anything you want to make possible. That is my message to the youth in Sweden and outside.”
Slovenia’s Kaja Schuster led quickly in her bronze medal contest against Anna Oliinyk-Korniiko of Ukraine. In the last minute she had to stay concentrated to maintain her lead as Oliinyk-Korniiko was chasing her, and with two penalties Schuster had to be careful but she eventually won the contest. It was the first medal for Slovenia in this weight category since Anka Pogacnik took silver in 2011.
Portuguese Olympian Tais Pina was the number one seed at -70kg and in her medal fight she was able to recover from her quarter-final loss against Ingrid Nilsson. She overcame Rebeka Soczo of Hungary. There was no score after two minutes of fighting but in the third minute it was Pina who struck with a sacrifice technique. Soczo could not find an answer against Pina, who had a strong grip and secured bronze after adding another waza-ari for an o-soto-gari. She had also won bronze in 2023 and returned once more to the -70kg podium.
It was a surprising final in the women -78kg category between Julie Zarybnicka of the Czech Republic and Jovana Stjepanovic of Serbia, who both outperformed in a field of just 14 determined women. The contest remained even through the first four minutes but 19 seconds into extra time Zarybnicka struck with a score against tall Stjepanovic. She steered the Serbian to her side, enough to win gold for the first time in her career. Zarybnicka became the first ever woman from the Czech Republic to win a gold medal in this age group. The country had three European champions before, all men, with David Klammert being the last in 2015.
Zarybnicka defeated two opponents to reach the semi-final where she beat Anna Kazakova of Ukraine. She was overwhelmed with this historic victory. “I didn’t know this information, it makes it even more special for the Czech Republic. I am just proud to be an example together with our double senior European champion Renata Zachova.” she added, “I recently changed weight after I sustained an injury for quite some time and this was only my second tournament in this weight division, so this is really mind-blowing.”
Jovana Stjepanovic, last year’s Junior European Championships runner-up, once again took silver for Serbia. The Serbian team captured two silver and two bronze medals in Moldova.
Claudia Sperotti of Italy was clear in her ambition to leave the sports hall with a medal against Emma Krapu of Finland during their bronze bout. Krapu was superb in her first two contests but Sperotti came back through the repechage and scored in the third minute of the contest with yuko, then added a second one. Krapu tried to respond to avoid a second loss but could not make a difference despite the two penalties for the Italian.
Dutch judoka Lieke Derks made the difference quickly in her bronze medal fight in the first minute against Anna Kazakova of Ukraine. She won the medal in 90 seconds with a great driving uchi-mata.
In the women’s +78kg category, 2023 junior European champion Paulien Sweers of the Netherlands added another title. In her final she defeated Roxana Visa of Romania. It was their first ever meeting. No penalties were given in the first four minutes. However, 30 seconds into golden score, Sweers countered Visa’s uchi-mata attempt and rotated her opponent down for ippon. It was the realisation of a year’s worth of relentless work and belief for the Dutch judoka.
“It feels fantastic,” Sweers said moments after her triumph. “It’s what I have been working towards all year, and it’s amazing that it all came together at such a beautiful tournament.”
Two years ago she captured the junior European title, a moment that hinted at what was to come. But progress in judo is rarely a straight line. “After that junior title, I competed twice more at this championship,” she recalled. “I lost to very strong opponents, but today everything clicked, and I became champion.”
Throughout her young career, Sweers has shown the ability to learn quickly. One name that has pushed her forward is Grace-Esther Mienandi Lahou from France, a regular rival and benchmark in her category. “It’s funny, because this time I didn’t face her,” she smiled. “I don’t know if I should be happy about that, because I was really ready for a rematch. Every time I fight her, I grow. The first time I was thrown quickly, the second time I lasted three minutes before scoring. I really wanted to take that next step but I beat the athlete who beat her, so that feels pretty good too.” Sweers won the 21st gold medal for the Netherlands in their rich history, and the 17th for the women.
Grace-Esther Mienandi Lahou claimed bronze after defeating Gabrielle Bouvier. Neither could score and both received two penalties. After more than five minutes of fighting, the referee gave a third penalty to Bouvier. Italian Tiziana Marini scored a fast waza-ari in 23 seconds in her bronze medal contest against Duygu Dirgen of Türkiye and kept her game plan to grab another medal for Italy.
The U23 European Judo Championships continues on Sunday with the mixed team event where nine participating teams will battle for glory. Watch all actions live online via JudoTV.com.
Judoka
Author: Hans Van Essen