Maxime Gobert secured the sole medal for France on the second day of the 2026 Grand Prix de Croatie in Zagreb, claiming bronze in the -73kg category.
While four French judokas reached the final block, Gobert was the only athlete to successfully reach the podium, according to reports from L’Esprit du Judo.
Gobert’s performance showed he has recovered from a serious knee injury sustained during the 2025 European Championships. The Nice-based judoka, who returned to competition in late March, fought six times on Saturday, securing four victories by ippon. His day included a tactical submission victory over teammate Nathan Cadignan in the bronze medal match, where he utilized a juji-gatame.
The Frenchman’s path to the medal match saw him overcome Cypriot Georgios Kalaitsidis and Bulgarian Mark Hristov, both via sankaku-jime. His only loss of the day came in the semifinals against Ireland’s Joshua Green, who secured a victory via counter in golden score.
Despite a strong collective showing from the French contingent, Cadignan, Clémence Émé, and Arnaud Aregba ultimately missed out on medals. Cadignan, the reigning French champion, made his first career appearance in the final block of an International Judo Federation (IJF) tournament. His day was highlighted by a second-round victory over top seed Hassan Doukkali of Morocco, though he was ultimately unable to surpass Gobert in the bronze-medal contest.
In the women’s -70kg category, Clémence Émé entered the final block as the number three seed. After tactical victories against Ukraine’s Olha Tsimko and Croatia’s Lara Cvjetko, Émé faced Dutch veteran Sanne Van Dijke. The 31-year-old Van Dijke, a bronze medalist at the 2025 World Championships, proved difficult to overcome. Émé ultimately lost the bronze medal match due to a shido for a false attack.
Arnaud Aregba also faced a difficult path in the -81kg division, falling to Ukraine’s Mykhailo Svidrak in the bronze medal bout. Svidrak, currently ranked 16th globally, countered an o-uchi-gari attempt from the Frenchman to secure an ippon. Aregba, who won the Zagreb tournament last year, finished the day off the podium after a loss to Svidrak.
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