Romane Dicko bags third European Judo title

France’s Romane Dicko, one of the most dynamic heavyweights around, won her third European title in style, displaying adeptness in both standing and groundwork.

She had a bit of a scare in her first match, when she got thrown by Marketa Paulusova (CZE), who used a kind of yoko-guruma type of throw to score waza-ari in the opening sections of the match. Dicko quickly proceeded to pin her in response.

In her second match, she threw Kinga Wolszczak (POL) with a slick ouchi-kouchi combination and then proceeded to pin her for waza-ari-awasete-ippon. Her third match was also won on the ground. She took Sebile Akbulut (TUR) down with a sloppy soto-makikomi which scored waza-ari, and then rolled her into a holdown to win the match.

Dicko apparently believes in saving the best for last. In the final, she launched Israel’s Raz Hershko with a belt grab harai-goshi that had the Israeli flying through the air and landing flat on her back. It was a marvelous way to end a competition.

With her solid win in Sofia, Dicko has proven herself to be among the top heavyweight champions of the world. Besides her three European titles, Dicko also has seven IJF World Tour gold medals, and she is only 22 years old.

The next big challenge for her is, of course, to win the World title later this year. Looking at her formidable performance in Sofia, it looks like Dicko is poised to achieve that goal.