The 2026 U23 European Judo Championships opened in Naples on 30 October and run until 1 November. Seven categories were decided on the first day: the men's -60 kg, -66 kg and -73 kg, and the women's -48 kg, -52 kg, -57 kg and -63 kg.
Fabrizio Esposito won the men's -73 kg for Italy. He led by a yuko, Victor Skerlev of Bulgaria equalised with 25 seconds left, and Esposito settled the golden score with o-uchi-gari for yuko after almost two minutes.
Islam Rahimov of Azerbaijan defended the men's -66 kg title. Trailing by a waza-ari after 45 seconds, he threw Jochem van Harten of the Netherlands for ippon with o-uchi-gari at 1:16. Rahimov said afterwards that he had been carrying an injury and felt the pain during the contest.
Yehonatan Veksler of Israel took the men's -60 kg, scoring o-uchi-gari for waza-ari after 20 seconds against Pietro Andreini of Italy. Veksler said his team had spent the past month or two working on exactly that situation: holding a score, taking a penalty and continuing to work.
Laura Bogdan of Romania won the women's -48 kg, throwing Lotte Vandevoort of Belgium with tani-otoshi for ippon after 27 seconds. It was Romania's first women's title at this level in 13 years. Szabina Szeleczki of Hungary and Zilan Ertem of Türkiye took bronze.
Gaia Stella gave Italy a second gold in the women's -52 kg, holding a yuko from ko-uchi-gake against Marta Beorlegui Oses of Spain. Stella had injured her leg two or three weeks earlier and carried two penalties but kept her lead to the final gong. Pauline Cuq of France and Ilay Hayun of Israel took bronze.
Adriana Rodrigues Salvador of Spain won the women's -57 kg, coming from a yuko down to throw Michela Terranova of Italy for ippon in the third minute. The women's -63 kg final was an all-Croatian contest, Nina Simic scoring waza-ari with o-soto-makikomi against Nina Cvjetko.
Italy led the medal table at the end of the first day. The championships continue on 31 October and 1 November with the remaining categories.
