Eduard Trippel cancels participation for Tbilisi

The Tokyo Olympics was a dream competition for Eduard Trippel, who was hardly a favorite for making it to the final. He wasn’t a European Champion (or even a medalist); he wasn’t a World Champion (or even a medalist). He didn’t even have an IJF World Tour title to his name (though he had gotten silver twice). Nobody expected him to make it to the final. He was about to make his comeback in Tbilisi, but cancelled his trip in the last moment.

Although he did not win the gold, his Olympic silver was a great achievement for this 25-year-old German fighter, who had a really tough climb to the final. To get there, he had to defeat former World Champion Nemanja Majdov (SRB), former World Champion Gwak Dong-Han (KOR), and World Silver medallists Krisztian Toth (HUN) and Mihael Zgank (TUR). Getting past these top players was a feat in itself.

Since the Olympics, Trippel has not taken part in any IJF competitions but was set to do so in the upcoming Tbilisi Grand Slam but cancelled in the last moment. Among the top players that will contend in Tbilisi are Krisztian Toth (HUN), Beka Gviniashvili (GEO) and Shoichiro Mukai (JPN), so it would have been nice to catch up with old 'frenemies'.

Over the years, Trippel has fought Toth six times and their head-to-heads is 3:3. So, they are pretty evenly matched, but at the last time they fought was at the Tokyo Olympics, where Trippel won. Toth will miss a a grudge match in Tbilisi now, but they will meet in the future for sure..

Trippel fought Gviniashvili five times and lost four of those times. Their last encounter was at the 2021 IJF World Masters, where he lost to the Georgian.

Trippel has fought Mukai only once, at that was quite recent, in the Mixed Team event at the Olympics. There, he lost to Mukai.

So, we will have to wait for his first competition since the Olympic Games for Trippel and that might become the Grand Slam in Budapest. But if you check out his Instagram page, you will notice that he has been training hard. He’s sure to give it as good as he’s got next time.