Bellandi eyes the missing crown as Tbilisi sets up a -100kg showdown

Two of the most compelling stories at the European Championships in Tbilisi will unfold in -100kg and -78kg. Paris 2024 Olympic champions Zelym Kotsoiev of Azerbaijan and Italy’s Alice Bellandi arrive as top seeds, and both are chasing a continental title with very different pressure around them.

In -100kg, the spotlight naturally falls on Kotsoiev and Georgia’s Ilia Sulamanidze. Kotsoiev won their Olympic final, but Sulamanidze answered back by taking European gold last year. Now the rivalry moves to Tbilisi, on Sulamanidze’s home tatami, with their head-to-head perfectly balanced and the atmosphere likely to be intense from the first exchange.

The category does not stop with those two. Arman Adamian brings major pedigree as the 2023 world champion and 2019 European champion, and his record against the top names makes him impossible to ignore. Italy’s Gennaro Pirelli and the Netherlands’ Simeon Catharina return after taking European bronze last year, while Ukraine’s Anton Savytskiy enters with strong recent World Judo Tour results.

Michael Korrel also adds serious depth. The Dutch veteran is set for his tenth senior European Championships appearance and already owns a continental gold plus two bronze medals, a reminder that experience can still matter in one of judo’s toughest divisions.

In -100kg, one huge attack could decide everything.

The -78kg class offers a very different picture. None of last year’s medallists are back, and no European champion from the past decade will compete in Tbilisi. That leaves the podium completely open, but one name still stands out.

Bellandi arrives as reigning Olympic and world champion, world number one, and one of Europe’s biggest hopes. She has collected world medals, a Masters title and multiple Grand Slam golds, yet the senior European title remains the one major prize still missing from her résumé.

Her continental path already hints at unfinished business: bronze in 2022, silver in 2023, and now a return with even greater status. Israel’s Inbar Lanir, the Paris Olympic silver medallist and 2023 world champion, remains the clearest danger, especially if the two meet again.

Behind them, Great Britain’s Emma Reid, Slovenia’s Metka Lobnik and France’s Kaila Issoufi could all push deep. For European fans, Bellandi’s chase feels like one of the defining missions of these championships.

Bellandi has almost everything, but this title still matters.

Source: EJU_News