The IBJJF Geneva Open 2023 took place on November 10th, 2023 and several of the sport’s top competitors from around Europe made the journey to Switzerland in order to compete. Some traveled from even further afield in order to reach the podium, and there was plenty of exciting moments in each division. Both the gi and no gi editions of the event took place on the same day and this made for a grueling day of matches for anyone who wanted to compete in both. As a result, there was a fair amount of grapplers who chose to enter just one division instead.
It was Espen Mathiesen who managed to walk away with the biggest collection of medals in the gi, as he won the middleweight division first and returned later to win the absolute division as well. Mathiesen won 5 matches split across both brackets and he managed to submit 4 of his opponents, creating some highlight-reel moments in the process. The man that he beat in the final of the middleweight division, Matheus Rangel, was equally impressive on the mats and he decided to test himself in no gi as well. Not only did Rangel win the no gi middleweight division, but he also won the no gi absolute division as well.
Wanki Chae was given a default gold medal at light-featherweight but other than that, the men’s divisions had enough competitors to make some interesting matches throughout. There weren’t many female competitors entering the adult black belt divisions at all, and there was only one match that could actually be made. That came in the gi absolute division, where recently-promoted black belt Scarlett Liljefors won by submission with a lapel choke. All in all, the IBJJF Geneva Open 2023 was a success and the level of colored belt talent on display was a great sign for the future of European Jiu-Jitsu.
