One
Since winning world silver in 2017, Mihael Zgank has had an inconsistent and challenging few years but something changed in the summer of 2023 and the results began to pile up again. Zagreb silver, European bronze, Portugal and Paris golds, he’s a man on a mission and now he’s fighting at home. He’s looking for his 6th medal in as many tournaments to further cement his seeding for the Olympic Games.
Turkiye is yet to win a gold medal despite some fantastic performances. Perhaps it’s Zgank who will fly the home flag.
Two
Boehm and Olek have been chasing down their nation’s number one, Anna-Maria Wagner (GER) for many months. In Tbilisi the world champion was unable to compete and Boehm made the most of it, winning bronze and increasing her ranking points. Only 2 per country can enter any weight category and in Antalya Wagner and Boehm are back, 3rd and 5th on the Olympic ranking list, respectively. There are just under 1000 points between them mean a gold and an early exit could change everything for the pair.
Three
Is Teddy in the shape we hope he is? We know that Teddy Riner is approaching the last events of his career but one of them could produce arguably the most important result of his career, in Paris in 4 months time.
The +100 kg category offers some challenge for all its entrants. World champion Andy Granda (CUB) sits at the top of the sheet while Tatsuru Saito looks set to meet him in the semi-final. Marti Puumalainen (FIN), European and Masters champion, is back from a short period of injury but his results protected his ranking during his absence and he arrives in Turkiye as the second seed.
Riner takes the lead in pool D and is therefore set to meet the Fin in their semi-final. It will be a first meeting for the pair, offering a great deal of information to both, a useful meeting ahead of the Games. What’s certain is that the category is full of interest topped off by the chance to see the great Teddy Riner compete again.
Antalya, let’s go!