Bottrop. Nicolas Kutscher from JC 66 Bottrop is German champion in the weight class up to 66 kilograms. His coach flew in from Japan on time.
The JC 66 Bottrop celebrates its new German champion. Last weekend the annual national judo competitions took place in Stuttgart – and they produced a new title holder in Nicolas Kutscher.
The 20-year-old, who also competes in individual competitions under the JC 66 banner, prevailed against the competition in the strong field of participants up to 60 kg and demonstrated extremely long endurance. Melina Wien, who only had to admit defeat in extra time of the final fight, narrowly missed out on the DM title.
The Bottrop coach came to Stuttgart directly from Japan
Before the championship fights in Baden-Württemberg, part of the Bottrop team had to deal with a lot of hardships and a near conflict of schedules, because JC team manager and national coach Jan Tefett as well as some JC athletes were initially in far away Japan. “From there the plane went straight to Stuttgart for me,” said Tefett, who looked after the 66ers on site over the entire weekend. “That was of course a challenge. And we were aware that this burden would be noticeable to one or the other.”
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This was the case with Florian Böcker, who, at just 20 years old, already knew how to make a few exclamation marks, but this time he had to settle for seventh place in the weight class up to 66 kg. “The performance was okay, but he didn’t seem completely fresh,” said Tefett, assessing the performance of the JC talent.
Helen Habib, who had to sit out due to injury, and Ronja Buddenkotte, for whom “a break to regenerate after a long season” was agreed upon, as Tefett described, were not even there. “Otherwise there would certainly have been something for us.”
Melina Wien is not missing much from the title
For this reason, in the subsequent title fights, Kutscher and Vienna were the focus of the Bottropers, who were most likely to be able to figure something out. The 23-year-old from Vienna already won the runner-up title in the weight class over 78 kilograms in 2022 and came third last year. This time the athlete made it to the final again, where she lost out to the experienced Aylin Mill from VfL Sindelfingen.
Melina Wien won the silver medal again at the German Championships. The photo is from 2022, when she also came second. © FUNKE Photo Services | Olaf Fuhrmann
“Unfortunately, she couldn’t put any decisive pressure on her opponent,” said Tefett, “the title was definitely within reach for Melina.” But in extra time of the final fight, Vienna received the decisive third punishment (Shido), which led to a bitter end for the Bottrop woman had a consequence.
In the final, Kutscher beats the top favorite
From a 66er perspective, the JC fighter’s performance was only topped by Kutscher, who powered his way through to the final with a courageous performance. “It wasn’t easy for him and perhaps luck was on his side in the quarter-finals,” summed up Tefett, “but he maintained his lead over time and then did it very cleverly, especially in the final.”
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The 20-year-old was up against a top favorite in Maximilian Heyder from TSV Großhadern, who has already finished at the top of the podium four times in the past. Tefett: “They know each other, so it was a very interesting duel at a high level. In the end, Nicolas deserved the victory.” So the Bottrop judoka returned from the south of the republic with a new DM title and a lot of experience in their luggage.
Read more reports from local sport in Bottrop here!
2024-10-29 14:24:00