European Judo Championships Preview +78kg: Sayit and Andeol can battle for gold

Turkish Kayra Sayit is one of the favourites for the European title for heavyweight women in Warsaw. The former French judoka, under the name of Ketty Mathe, is the reigning European champion and number one seed. At the Olympic Games she fell just one match short of a medal in Rio; this year she seems to be the one to beat.

Sayit took silver at the Grand Slam in Baku and won the Grand Prix in Antalya. And we must admit, since the Olympic title for Emilie Andeol, the champion hasn’t looked convincing. But at the European Championships Andeol will be back. She won two titles, was in three finals but last year kept the best for August. Although she won the European Open in Sofia and bronze in Paris, which may not be so convincing, Andeol deserves credit for fighting at the events when most Olympians who took a longer break.

Larisa Ceric is the number three seed and is always able to deliver a good fight. Ceric of Bosnia Herzegovina won European silver in Montpellier in 2014 and was ninth in Rio. This year she won bronze at the Grand Prix in Düsseldorf in 2017 and may get a medal again this year.

The Ukrainian heavyweight Svitlana Iaromka is certainly not the biggest, but she can throw. She has had the technical skills and experience for a long time now. Also this year she gained quite a few points with two bronze medals in Baku and Tbilisi.

Dutch Tessie Savelkouls won gold at the Grand Slam in Baku and seems to be in good shape. She is one of the up-and-coming women in this class, but Maryna Slutskaya of Belarus also might see some chances to score a medal. She won this year in Prague and Tbilisi. With two major favourites, it’s not yet a closed deal in Warsaw.

SAYIT Kayra (TUR) 1. seed (2. place WRL)

ANDEOL Emilie (FRA) 2. seed (3. place WRL)

CERIC Larisa (BIH) 3. seed (6. place WRL)

IAROMKA Svitlana (UKR) 4. seed (7. place WRL)

SAVELKOULS Tessie (NED) 5. seed (10. place WRL)

SLUTSKAYA Maryna (BLR) 6. seed (11. place WRL)

PAKENYTE Santa (LTU) 7. seed (13. place WRL)

WEISS Carolin (GER) 8. seed (17. place WRL)