It is De Wit’s first medal at the European Championships. He already became European champion and world junior champion in 2015. He has not yet succeeded in that among the seniors, but he did win bronze at the World Championships in 2021.
De Heemskerker had reached the final by beating defending champion Vedat Albayrak from Turkey with waza-ari. Before that he had won against the Finn Oskari Makinen (ippon), the Romanian Adrian Sulca (ippon) and the Irish Maxim Trigub (waza-ari). It is the second Dutch European Championship medal after Joanne van Lieshout’s silver.
