Junior Squad Go Crazy in Kaunas
May 28, 2025
Great Britain’s Junior squad gave an exciting glimpse into the future at the weekend as they picked up seven medals at the Kaunas Junior European Open in Lithuania.
In a stacked competition of over 340 athletes, the team came away with a haul of one Gold medal, four Silver medals and two Bronze medals.
Ben Levy (Budokwai) underlined his growing potential in the -73kg as he claimed his second Gold medal of the year with an accomplished day on the tatami. Levy made his debut in the Senior European Championships this year and used this experience to fight his way onto the top of the podium. An excellent win over Sweden’s in-form Narek Vardanian saw him take home top spot.
Making his debut on the Junior European circuit, Kevin Gordon (Hibari-Kan JC) fought his way onto the podium at the first time of asking in the -100kg competition. Having recently made the step up from Cadet level, Gordon showed no signs of nerves as he breezed through the opening rounds without a score against him. He would come unstuck in the Final against Kazakhstan’s Yerassyl Nurtaza but has demonstrated that he belongs at this level.
Eva Ewing (Sportif) has had a stellar career at Cadet level with a range of medals across the past three years, and having made the step up to Junior competition this year, secured her first medal as she took home Silver in the -48kg category. She came so close to a European Championships medal in her last Cadet competition but has started off her Junior career in fine style. Former Cadet European Championship Bronze medalist Wiktoria Slazok stood in the way of Ewing taking home Gold but we don’t think we have seen the last of Eva at this level!
Lola Hodson (Dragons Academy) was back in the -52kg and secured her fourth medal of 2025 following Bronze in Poznan and Tunis Junior Opens, and Gold in the Senior event in Tunis. A natural at Junior level, she fought her way to a deserved Silver medal, falling only to France’s Alicia Marques.
The experienced Nicole Wood (Bishops Stortford Judokwai) continued her consistent Junior career as she placed for the fourth event in a row. In a career that has seen her reach the podium six times already whilst placing in a further five, she added a Silver medal to her collection in the -78kg competition. Across the competition, she will have been pleased to have avenged a number of previous losses against opponents on the way to the Gold medal contest but she couldn’t find a way past Poland’s Martyna Skorupinska in the Final.
Kaunas has proved to be a happy hunting ground for Eryk Neumann (Hardy Spicer 83) as he claimed Bronze for the third successive year in Lithuania in -81kg category. Following a close defeat in the Quarter Final, Neumann admirably bounced back in style to defeat both his Repechage and Bronze medal opponents via ippon – with a gruelling Bronze medal contest lasting over seven and a half minutes.
Chloe Link (Relentless Judo) backed up her Bronze medal from Poznan with another fine third-place finish in Kaunas – her seventh international medal to date. She defeated compatriot Madeleine Birri (Ealing Judo Club) to take home the medal – the fourth time that the two have been drawn together. All contests have been closed fought and this one proved no different with over seven minutes required to separate the two before Link eventually secured ippon. Birri will take comfort from pushing Link to her limit and will be looking to secure her first victory over her fellow Brit at the next attempt.
Notable mentions also go out to Maddy Kissenisky (-52kg) and Kate Chisholm (-52kg) who narrowly missed out on a Bronze medal to finish in Fifth place respectively, with Cameron Hickey (-90kg) and Olivia Delahunty (-63kg) placing in Seventh.
Over in Portugal at Sao Joao da Madeira Millennium Team Cadet European Open, there were opening round defeats for Robyn Davies and Nikita Gilchenko.
