The Slovenian cadet national team impressed at the European Cup in Teplice, finishing an excellent fifth among 20 participating nations. The highlights of the Slovenian campaign came courtesy of Ilariia Tsurkan and Aleks Krivec, who topped the podium in the under 63 kg and under 81 kg categories respectively.

Tsurkan justified her status as the top seed in northern Bohemia and claimed victory in Teplice for the third consecutive year. The 17-year-old Slovenian representative received a bye in the opening round before convincingly defeating opponents from Hungary, Poland and Lithuania.

In the semi-finals, Hungary’s Zora Farkas posed her toughest challenge, but the Slovenian judoka scored a decisive yuko with one of her trademark body techniques less than half a minute before the end of the contest.

In the final, Tsurkan faced Germany’s Jolina Reinhold, last year’s winner of the European Youth Olympic Festival. The regular contest produced no winner, sending the match into golden score. After a minute and a half of extra time, the two competitors were also level on penalties, with two apiece. Tsurkan proved the more active of the two in the remainder of the bout, and after nearly five minutes of golden score — almost nine minutes of total contest time — Reinhold received a third penalty, handing victory to the Slovenian judoka.

For the cadet world silver medallist, this was a milestone 10th medal at cadet European Cups, including her sixth gold. It was also her second victory of the season, having already triumphed in Poreč.

Slovenia’s celebration was completed by Krivec, the second seed in the under 81 kg category. After a first-round bye, he defeated opponents from Latvia, Brazil and Estonia by ippon to advance to the semi-finals.

There he took on Serbia’s Veljko Mandić, but the Serbian was also unable to find an answer to the Slovenian’s excellent groundwork. Krivec executed a superb turnover into a hold halfway through the contest and kept his opponent pinned on his back for 20 seconds to secure victory and a place in the final.

In the gold medal contest, he faced Brazil’s Yago Mello. Krivec made a flying start, scoring yuko with a leg technique after just 17 seconds, before immediately adding a second one in the following attack. After the second throw, he once again turned his opponent over into a hold-down and recorded his fifth ippon victory of the tournament to win the gold medal.

For the 16-year-old Slovenian judoka, it was his second gold medal at cadet European Cups after last year’s triumph in Kranjska Gora, and his seventh medal overall at this level of competition.

Mello also faced another Slovenian in the semi-finals, Jan Estefan Martinez Kovač, who likewise delivered an outstanding tournament. After opening wins over opponents from Ukraine and Germany, he defeated the top seed in the category, Estonia’s Aleksei Kikas, in the round of 16, before overcoming the eighth seed, Ukraine’s Illia Shvets, in the quarter-finals. Mello then denied him a place in the final, and in the bronze medal contest Martinez Kovač suffered a comeback defeat to another Brazilian, Davi Pereira, finishing just outside the podium places.

In the same category, Maks Čebulj finished seventh after recording four wins and two losses. The winner of the cadet European Cup in Rome opened his campaign with two victories before being stopped in the quarter-finals by Mello. In the repechage, he defeated opponents from Estonia and Canada, but in the so-called repechage final he was once again beaten by Kikas.

Gal Frangež also lost his bronze medal match in the over 90 kg category. The fifth seed received a bye in the opening round and then needed just 10 seconds to defeat his Ukrainian opponent in the second round. After a quarter-final loss to a Czech competitor, he continued in the repechage, where he defeated representatives of Poland and Brazil. In the bronze medal contest, he was stopped by Latvia’s Aleksandrs Apsalons, leaving him in fifth place overall.

Nastja Drakšič Koštomaj also finished seventh on the opening day of competition, recording two wins in the under 44 kg category.

One win each for the Slovenian team in Teplice was also recorded by Nuša Samec, Jani Černe, Ben Blagovič, Taj Temniker, Leon Adrović and Tjan Koter.