Germany claims the first European mixed title

The team of Germany has taken the first European Mixed title. In the final Germany was too strong for the Netherlands winning by 4-2. The city of Jekaterinburg hosted the first Europeam mixed event at senior level. At Junior and and Cadet level mixed team title were already introduced. The Mixed team events will be introduced at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Theresa Stoll opened the successful final for Germany against Dewy Karthaus. The Dutch had a good though with their surprising team. Igor Wandtke had a tough fight against youngster Kenneth Henneveld U73kg but finished it after all giving the Germans a 2-0 lead. Szaundra Diedrich lost her contest against Hilde Jager who contributed heavily on Wednesday to the silver performance. Marc Odenthal made the 3-1 for Germany against Bas van Empelen. Natascha Ausma won her contest surprisingly +70kg, not her regular weight, against Anna Maria Wagner, also not a heavyweight, but still 10 kg heavier in team events. Sven Heinle pulled the trigger for the Germans winning his last contest against Jur Spijkers.

Both team were the surprising finallists as Germany defeated Russia with 4-1 in the semi final. In the German semi final team also Laura Vargas Koch who came back from an injury U70kg. Anthony Zingg was convincing against Denis Iartcev which helped the Germans getting the right pace for the semi final win. The Netherlands stunned number one seed France with a 4-2 win. Natascha Ausma defeated French heavyweight Julia Tolofua after disqualification and Jur Spijkers had an excellent day and finished the match against Messie Katanga with his seoi nage skills by 4-2 for the Netherlands.

Bronze was for Russia that easily defeated Azerbaijan by 4-0, no further two contests needed. The Ukraine also surprised against France by a 4-3 victory. After a 3-3 after six matches the draw appointed Kalanina and Tolofua to fight again. This time it was the tall Kalanina who learned from her earlier defeat against the heavier Tolofua and pulled the victory to the Ukraine team.

At the World Championships in 2017 France was the only European nation to be able to win a (bronze) medal.