There was delight at the Lukna Hall on 27 July as Slovenia claimed their first gold medal of the EYOF with Nika Tomc (SLO) beating Germany’s Odalis Santiago Santana (GER) in the judo girls’ under 57kg. Tomc received her medal from Slovenia’s Urška Žolnir (SLO) who won a gold medal in the judo under 63kg category at London 2012 making it an extra special moment.
Three other judo weight categories concluded their competitions on Day 4. The girls’ under 63kg was won by Croatian Jana Cvjetko (CRO), with Slovenia picking up their second medal of the day as Leila Mazouzi (SLO) won bronze, the boys’ under 73kg was won by Romanian Laurentiu Gliga (ROU) and the boys’ under 81kg claimed by Emir Ari (TUR) from Türkiye.
The beauty of sun-drenched Maribor and the surrounding area was on full display in the girls’ and boys’ cycling road races but the two events could not have seen more different finishes. The girls’ race ended with a sprint for the line with the top four finishers all finishing with a time of 1:19:25. With almost nothing separating the cyclists it was Italy’s Linda Sanarini (ITA) who won gold marginally edging out Spain’s Paula Ostiz (ESP) in second and Poland’s Maria Okrucinska (POL) in third. In contrast, in the boys’ race, Great Britain’s Max Hinds (GBR) went on a 48-kilometre solo breakaway to take victory by 32 seconds. Alessio Magagnotti (ITA) finished second and Heimo Jiayang Fugger (AUT) took bronze.
At the Skatepark Maribor Weronika Choromanska (POL) took the gold medal 4.62 points ahead of silver medallist Shani Paz (ISR) and Cerise Michaud (FRA) took the bronze. In the boys’ event Max Berguin (FRA) took gold, 3.23 points ahead of second placed Yakov Terrel (ISR) and Jean Semaan (POL) secured the third spot.
The gymnastics competition continued at the Tabor Sports Hall with the highlight being a second gold medal of the Festival for Italy’s Sara Caputo (ITA) as she added the mixed team pairs title to her girls’ team event win. Germany won the silver medal and France the bronze.
Elsewhere it was a busy evening at both the Poljane Athletics Stadium and the Pristan Swimming Centre. At the former it was the Czechia’s night as they won three gold medals: Petr Meinglschmid (CZE) in the boys’ long jump, Karolina Jarosova (CZE) in the girls’ 2000m steeplechase and Terezie Taborska (CZE) in the girls’ 200m. The girls’ hammer was won by Finland’s Pinja Karha (FIN), Olha Mashanienkova (UKR) took the girls’ 400m hurdles title and Sarolta Kriszt (HUN) won gold in the girls’ heptathlon with an impressive score of 5830, 22 points ahead of her nearest rival. In the remaining boys’ medal events of the day Spain’s Fabio Marco (ESP) won the pole vault and Switzerland’s Akira Eghagha (SUI) took gold in the 200m.
For the medal events at the swimming pool, Linda Roth (GER) picked up her second medal of the games winning the girls’ 200m freestyle to add to the bronze she won in the mixed 4×100 m freestyle relay on Tuesday. Sweden’s Frida Haellkvist (SWE) took the top honours in the 100m butterfly and in the boys’ events Daniele Del Signore (ITA) won the 200m backstroke and Justin Cvetkov (SRB) won the 50m Freestyle. Finally, the mixed 4 x 100m medley was won by Italy with Germany taking second and Great Britain in third.
The tennis singles and doubles quarter finals were played on Day 4 and semi-finals will be held in the morning on Day 5. In the boys’ singles the lineup will be Niels McDonald (GER) vs Thilo Behrmann (AUT) and Svit Sulic (SLO) vs Vito Darderi (ITA) and in the girls’ singles Lea Nilsson (SWE) will play Julie Pastikova (CZE) and Charo Esquiva (ESP) will play Giulia Popa (ROU). It will also be a busy morning for Germany’s Niels McDonald as he partners Jamie MacKenzie (GER) in the boys’ doubles against Poland and Portugal will play Romania in the other semifinal.
