British Championships 2023: Ones to watch – Junior and Senior

Ahead of this weekend’s British Championships at the EIS Sheffield, we have a look at some of the ones to watch as the best British Judo talent compete to be crowned British Judo Junior and Senior Champion.

Junior Male

In the -60kg category, Ross Dempsey enters as defending champion and the number one seed.

Daniel Givan enters the -66kg category as the number one seed in 2023. He will face competition from Lewis Fryer who steps up to the -66kg category whilst last weekends cadet champion, Sol Savoury will be in action.

Eryk Neumann will enter the -73kg category as the top seed in the absence of 2022 champion Luke Davies. Challenges will come from the likes of Isaac Hope, Ben Moore and Ben Levy.

The -90kg title could be a battle between two 2022 champions. Luke Austen was -81kg champion whilst Joseph Kirk enters as the defending champion. The pair top the rankings this year.

Jake McKenna will be aiming to improve upon the bronze medal he took in 2022 as he enters as the number one seed in the –100kg category.

In the +100kg category, defending champion Daniel Ede, who has competed at both the World and European Junior Championships this summer, will face competition from 2022 silver medallist James Weller-Henry.

Junior Female

Summer Shaw was both Junior and Senior champion in 2022. She enters this weekend as the one to beat in the -48kg category as she tops the UK rankings.

2023 Fuengirola Cadet European Cup silver medallist Chloe Link enters the -57kg category as the defending champion. Link tops the UK rankings this year but will face competition from Maddy Birri who has recently stepped up from the -52kg category and claimed silver medals at the Montreal Junior and Senior Panamerican Opens last month and last weekend’s cadet champion Zhaklin Satari.

Katie Mills took -63kg bronze in 2022 but tops the UK rankings in 2023. She will face competition from Maya Aubert-Gomez who took silver at the Montreal Cadet Pan American Cup last month.

Paks Junior European Cup bronze medallist, Anya Hassan topes the -78kg entries. The European Junior Championship representative took bronze in 2022.

Chloe Baker will be another looking to improve upon her 2022 result. The +78kg judoka took silver in 2022 but tops the UK rankings in 2023.

Senior Male

Ben Barkby leads the -60kg rankings this year, challenges for the title could come from Scottish judoka David Ferguson and Dylan Munro.

Sam Hall leads the -66kg entries. He will face competition for the gold from Neil Macdonald who took the -60kg title in 2022. Fellow Scottish judoka, and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Finlay Allan took silver in 2022 and will have his sights set on the top of the podium.

Eric Ham leads the -73kg entries. Challenges for the title will come from European U23 Championships representatives Ethan Nairne and Oliver Short.

2021 champion Lachlan Moorhead will be a strong favourite for the -81kg title as he enters as the number one seed.

Adam Hoshal will return to defend his -90kg title. Hoshal will enter as the number one seed ahead of Stuart McWatt who will challenge for the title.

Fresh from taking silver at the European U23 Championships, Ollie Barratt leads the -100kg entries ahead of last years silver medallist, Harry Lovell-Hewitt.

Wesley Greenidge tops the +100kg entries ahead of Thomas Humphrey. The pair both fought for gold in 2022 with Greenidge coming out top.

Senior Female

Summer Shaw enters the -48kg category as the defending champion, but it is Ashleigh Barnikel who tops the UK ranking list this year.

2022 silver medallist, Sian Bobrowska will have her sights set on the top of the -52kg podium whilst Katie Mills will enter the -63kg category as the top seed.

Simone Cross returns to defend her -70kg title and could face competition from Maria Moss who will enter as the top seed.

Emma Reid will be a strong favourite for the -78kg title as she dominates the UK rankings in 2023 whilst the +78kg category could be a battle between UK leader Lucy Williams and Tokyo Olympian, Sarah Adlington.

Weigh-in Times

Juniors: Registration and Weigh-in will be on Friday 8^th December 2023. Weigh in will run from 19:00-20:00.

Seniors: Registration and Weigh in will be on Saturday 9^th December 2023. Weigh in will run from 19:00-20:00.

Competition starts: 09:30hrs on both days.

Useful Information ahead of the Championships

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