Sweden, France and Great Britain may have topped the medal table on the opening day of the Birmingham Junior European Cup, but it was Great Britain’s Charlie AYRE and Irakli GOGINASHVILI who thrilled the home crowd with gold medals for the hosts.
After an impressive day on the tatami, Ayre claimed his maiden gold medal of his career after toppling France’s Kelvin RAY in the -60kg competition.
Ray has a seventh-place finish at the Paris Grand Slam on his CV so it was always going to be a tough test of Ayre’s credentials. He rose to the challenge much to the delight of the partisan crowd.
Impressive victories earlier in the day over the likes of Malaga Junior European Cup gold medallist Zacharie DIJOL (FRA) and Danylo AVRAMENKO (UKR) gave the young British athlete momentum heading into the final.
Ayre said,
I am really pleased with how the day went. It was good to pick up my first Junior European Cup gold medal and having a home crowd behind me made it even better!
Goginashvili added another medal to his impressive junior career that has seen him top the -73kg podium on three occasions now in 2025 including Prague and Poznan.
He didn’t have it all his own way on the day though and had to dig deep in his semi final against compatriot Ben LEVY (GBR) with a yuko score proving to be the difference between the two closely matched athletes. Victory against France’s Peter JEAN in the final.
Unfortunately, Jean had to withdraw during the gold medal contest after succumbing to a leg injury picked up, but Goginashvili displayed great sportsmanship as he helped his opponent off the mat.
Levy wasn’t able to join Goginashvili on the podium as he succumbed to defeat to Sweden’s Narek VARDANIAN.
Millie BAYLISS (GBR) was able to shake off semi final disappointment in the -63kg competition as she defeated team mate, Sunny DOIG via ippon to win bronze. Bayliss suffered an ippon defeat at the hands of Sweden’s Vilda BACKLUND in the semi final but showed admirable resilience to recover to pick up her second junior medal of 2025.
Backlund took home gold for Sweden after narrowly missing out on medals in Kaunas and Lignano this year.
In the -66kg competition, Kylian NOEL (FRA) had a flawless day on the mat as the 2022 Cadet European Silver medallist serenely progressed throughout the day without a single score against him.
Ingrid NILSSON (SWE) lived up to her billing as one of the pre-tournament favourites in the -70kg as she took home gold following a run of bronze medals in 2025. In one of the toughest categories of the day, Lila MAZZARINO (FRA) got the better of Germany’s World No.1 Mathilda Sophie NIEMEYER in the -78kg category.
Author: British Judo
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen