The second day of the Cadet European Championships in Spain brought two medals for the Slovenian national team. Ilariia Tsurkan confirmed her status as the top seed in the under 63 kilogram category and claimed the top spot after four victories, while Zarja Mastnak produced an excellent run in the under 57 kilogram category to win the silver medal. Slovenia’s successful day was completed by Roman Hontiuk, who impressed with a fighting performance and three victories in the under 66 kilogram category, finishing in 9th place.

First European Championship Medal for Zarja Mastnak

Zarja opened her campaign in the under 57 kilogram category with a contest against eighth seed Lucija Puljić. She caught the Croatian judoka in a hold-down after less than a minute of the contest. Puljić managed to escape quickly, but Zarja still took the lead with a yuko. The young Slovenian judoka repeated the same approach in the final minute, catching her opponent in another hold-down, and this time there was no escape for Puljić.

In the round of 16, Zarja faced Germany’s Charlotte Kronenthal and decided the contest in less than a minute, throwing her opponent onto her back with an attractive combination of hand and foot techniques to score ippon.

The quarter-final brought Zarja a contest against the top seed in the category, Turkey’s Elif Kilic. In a contest full of attacks from both judoka, Zarja repeatedly looked for opportunities in ne-waza, which paid off in the final minute. She successfully isolated her opponent’s arm and forced her to submit with an armlock.

After three convincing victories, Zarja faced Poland’s Julia Siemko in the semi-final. There were no scores in the first half of the contest, but the Slovenian judoka was the more active athlete both standing and on the ground. After two and a half minutes, she took the lead with a foot technique for yuko. The Polish judoka was under pressure to equalise in the final minute, and around 15 seconds before the end, Zarja capitalised on one of her opponent’s attacks and scored waza-ari with a counter technique. She then calmly controlled the contest on the ground until the end.

In the final, the 16-year-old Slovenian judoka faced another Polish representative, Jagoda Ciupek. Both athletes started aggressively and quickly established their grips, before the first attack was launched by the Polish judoka. With the yoko-otoshi sacrifice technique, she threw Zarja onto her back and brought the final to a quick end.

With four victories and one defeat, Zarja claimed her first medal at the European Championships.

Ilariia Tsurkan Defends Her Number One Status

Ilariia arrived on Gran Canaria as number one on the world ranking list and the top seed in the under 63 kilogram category, which meant she had a bye in the first round. The 17-year-old Slovenian representative therefore opened her campaign in the second round against Germany’s Amelie Roemmer and decided the contest in her own style, winning by armlock after less than 40 seconds.

Her quarter-final opponent, Poland’s Zoja Galewicz, proved to be a much tougher challenge, as she defended well against Ilariia’s attacks in regular time, while also receiving two penalties. The Slovenian judoka settled the question of who would progress to the semi-final after half a minute of golden score, when she scored the decisive yuko with a body technique.

The semi-final brought Ilariia a contest against Ukraine’s Arina Mashurenko, who has been steadily collecting medals on the Cadet European Cup circuit over the past year, starting with a third-place finish in Kranjska Gora. Ilariia took the lead after just ten seconds with her favourite technique, tomoe-nage, and then used constant attacks and diligent work in ne-waza to run down the clock and carry her minimal yuko advantage through to the end of the semi-final.

In the final, Ilariia faced Georgia’s Tinatin Gulbani, who had ended three of her previous four contests early with ippon. Ilariia threatened with a low technique in the very first attack and brought her opponent to the ground, but did not score. As soon as the Georgian judoka began to get back to her feet, the young Slovenian reacted quickly and threw her onto her back with a body technique. She added a hold-down for good measure and secured the gold medal in convincing fashion.

For Ilariia, this is her second medal at the Cadet European Championships, following her silver medal in 2024. Last year, she also won silver at the Cadet World Championships and gold at the European Youth Olympic Festival.

Roman Hontiuk also competed on the second day of the Cadet European Championships in Spain and impressed with three victories in the under 66 kilogram category. The 15-year-old Slovenian representative opened his campaign in the largest men’s category by defeating a representative of France, then came from two yukos down in the second round to beat a fighter from Montenegro by strangle. In the round of 16, he also eliminated the sixth seed from Georgia in golden score. In the quarter-final, after a close contest, Hontiuk was defeated by Serbia’s Nikola Radanov, who later went on to become European Champion. Despite another strong performance, the young Slovenian judoka then lost in the repechage against a representative of the Czech Republic and finished the European Championships in 9th place.

In the under 57 kilogram category, Tjaša Logonder also competed alongside Mastnak, but lost in the opening round against a representative of Georgia.

Slovenia’s appearances on Gran Canaria had already been opened on the first day of the competition by Nastja Drakšič Koštomaj, who produced a determined performance in the opening round of the under 48 kilogram category against Sweden’s Lova Faldt, but ultimately had to concede defeat. As the Swedish judoka did not progress to the semi-final, Nastja was left without a repechage opportunity.

Tomorrow, Neža Hladnik will step onto the tatami in the under 70 kilogram category, Aleks Krivec and Maks Čebulj in the under 81 kilogram category, Val Berglez Kos in the under 90 kilogram category, and Gal Frangež in the over 90 kilogram category. On Thursday, the Slovenian team will also compete in the mixed team event.

Photo: EJU Media