By Caoilte de Barra
Day three of the 2022 European Championships has come to a close. The action got underway at 11 am local time, with the quarter-finals taking place for seniors and the semi-finals for juniors.
In the junior ranks, Ukraine saw five of their athletes progress to the finals tomorrow. Most have come through the youth system they have in place, with many of them previously medaling in at Youth World Championships. Elsewhere, Belgium is aiming to secure their first-ever gold medal through Akhdim Nessim when he meets Patrik Kutil.
Moving up to the senior bouts. A new record was set as Serbia’s Dzevad Baltic submitted Sweden’s Daniel Karlsson with a guillotine choke in 15 seconds. The fastest submission in European Championships history.
The heavyweight division got underway today too. German standout from the World Championships Tom Hoelemann advanced to the semi-finals where he’ll meet Slovenia’s Miha Frlic, who had a big TKO victory today.
On the other side of the bracket, Judo Black Belt Nell Ariano won a decision for France and will face Ukraine’s Oleksandr Horodniuk tomorrow.
Patrick Habirora added a third consecutive finish to his highlight reel to continue his dominance over the welterweight division as he continues his push for a gold medal.
The women’s strawweight division stole the show, though. The most anticipated bout of the day between Poland’s Magdalena Czaban and Sweden’s Josefine Modig was as high-level as expected. The bout was razor thin, and the scorecards reflected that as Czaban took a split decision.
England’s Kelly Staddon made her mark in her IMMAF debut, overcoming a deep armbar in the second round to take the decision. France’s Delphine Benouaich and Germany’s Songuel Karatorak make up the rest of the division as the division begins to heat up.
Tomorrow sees the junior finals and senior semi-finals take place, with the bouts starting at 11 am local time. The full schedule for Day 4 of the 2022 European Championships can be found here. Live brackets can be found on Smoothcomp, and today’s results can be found here.
Watch the 2022 IMMAF European Championships live and exclusively from Bella Italia Efa Village in Lignano Sabbiadoro (Italy) from 27 September and 1 October 2022 at immaf.tv.
