Spanish judokas Ariane Toro and Laura Martínez inaugurated with bronze medals the medal table of the Spanish team in the European Championship of the discipline, which takes place this Thursday in Tbilisi (Georgia).
Toro climbs back to the third step of the podium in the -52 kg category, a position that she already signed in the continental editions of 2024 and 2025. The Navarrese, daughter of the Olympians Yolanda Soler (bronze in Atlanta 1996) and José Toro, was won by ippon Van Krevel in the repechage match, which she reached after losing to the Frenchwoman Amandine Buchard, which in the end was silver.
For her part, Laura Martínez, bronze in the World Championships held last year in Budapest, climbed back onto the continental podium two years later in the -48 kg category after beating the Azerbaijani Shafag Hamidova in the cassava repechage final.
Before, she had fallen in the quarterfinals to the Spanish Eva Pérez, who finally could not get on the podium, since she later fell in the semifinals to the Russian Sabina Giliazova.
In the men’s category, Fran Garrigós could not win his fourth European title in the -60 kilo category after falling in his second fight against the Belgian Jorr Vertstraeten. The Spanish judoka, bronze in the last Olympic Games in Paris, was burdened by not being seededwhich led him to face the Belgian Vertstraeten, eleventh in the world rankings, in the second round.
