Across the 8th and 9th of February, the European tours are starting for cadets, juniors and seniors, over 1300 participants in total. Arriving in Ljubljana for the European Open, 445 judoka from 32 nations. With this, it is set to be a fantastic debut event for 2025.
The top ranked woman competing in the country’s capital is home favourite, Metka LOBNIK in the -78kg category at #18 in the world. The Portugal Grand Prix silver medallist will be joined by team mate, Kaja SCHUSTER who we know from the -70kg category, taking a Junior World bronze medal in October last year.
Also coming in at #18 on the WRL is Jack YONEZUKA (USA), heading the -73kg category with an impressive 63 entries, always one of the most populated groups.
Junior European Champion, Nikolina NISAVIC (SRB) tested the senior waters last, securing a Senior European Cup gold and European Open bronze, so in spite of her ranking of #120, she will definitely be one to look out for on day one in the -52kg category. Same goes for team mate, Bogdan VELICKOVIC, the Cadet European Champion has already medalled as a junior but is pushing himself on the senior circuit this weekend.
Another junior talent is Nino LOLADZE (GEO) who became -57kg finalist of the Junior and U23 European Championships in 2024 who was also part of the Senior Mixed Team who took the World Championships bronze in Abu Dhabi. There will be some new faces in this weight as well, Binta NDIAYE (SUI) and Kelly DEGUCHI (CAN).
As this is an opening tournament for most athletes, there is usually a trend of them entering a weight category above their usual to remove the added pressure management, simply having the feel of being back on the tatami. In the -63kg category for example, we have the -57kg European Championship finalist, Kaja KAJZER (SLO) so it will be interesting to see if this is a permanent move.
Team Ukraine also have a few category changes, the -66kg men need to watch out for the unranked Nazar VISKOV (UKR), the -60kg Junior and U23 European Champion, and the -73s have Bogdan IADOV, Senior European Champion and Paris Grand Slam winner in their rear view mirrors.
There are sure to be plenty of surprises and upsets in Ljubljana this weekend so don’t miss the action and head over to JudoTV.com.
Author: Thea Cowen