On day one of the 2026 senior European Championships in Tbilisi, France made their intentions clear, winning medals in every one of the 4 categories in play. Golds for Boukli and Mkheidze, silver for Buchard and a bronze medal from Khyar sprung their team to the top of leaderboard.
The Russian Federation chased, a medal of each colour in hand, while Kosovo were in third with Distria Krasniqi’s gold medal. Host nation Georgia were a little off the pace, a single silver medal coming from Giorgi Sardalashvili at -60 kg.
But everything changed on day two as long-time hero Lasha Shavdatuashvili produced a gritty, committed, intelligent performance to win the 2026 -73 kg title, staying ahead of current Olympic champion Hidayat Heydarov (AZE) in the final. It was not Georgia’s first medal of the day either!
Pioneer Eteri Liparteliani had to dig deep to win hers, falling behind in her final against Timna Nelson-Levy. The Israeli went a yuko up early in the contest and it wasn’t until the last 20 seconds that Eteri managed to launch an inescapable attack.
At the end of day two, with France only adding Manon Deketer’s -63 kg medal to France’s tally, Georgia were hunting the top spot, up to second and with their superstars at -90 kg not in action until day three, there was still no telling how the standings would change as the second half of the competition got underway.
Would France or Georgia come away from the Olympic Palace in Tbilisi with the most gold medals or would a dark horse from further down the medal table spring a surprise on them both? Two days down and two days to go, this is already an interesting race.
Author: Jo Crowley