The 2022 Rome International Open took place on Thursday November 10th in Rome, Italy. The European jiu-jitsu scene continues to grow and evolve each and every year, with some of the world’s best teams establishing themselves throughout the continent. Roger Gracie Academy, CheckMat, and ZR Team Association were the top three teams of the event and had incredible individual performances at every belt level.

Ane Svendsen of GF Team won three matches in Rome to become the double gold champion. She won her first match at medium-heavy and two more in the open class.”I did not compete that much for the last two years so it feels amazing to be back,” said Ane. “The final in my category was a challenge since she had a very good spider guard. I’m very happy that it went so well today and I’m exited for the European No-Gi on Saturday. I love competing and today I got really reminded about that.”

Another great performance at the event was that of Pablo Mantovani of Atos Jiu-Jitsu. Pablo won featherweight gold with two victories. “It was great to be back on the competition scene. Due to the pandemic I stopped fighting for a while, but it’s the place where I feel good. I prepared myself to fight here and I had the result I was planning on. Soon you will see me in the big competitions.” Pablo’s gold medal performance included a submission via choke from the mount in the finals.

The male black belt open class winner was Julian Stonjek of CheckMat. After losing in the super heavy final, Julian came back to the open class, where he won four matches to take gold in the division. “Actually I was quite mad at myself after losing and getting silver in the super heavy division but thought it wouldn‘t be smart to end the day at noon sad. So I entered the open. I fought a lightweight and managed to submit by armbar. Then I fought a medium-heavy which I choked and moved on to face a Barbosa Jiu-Jitsu athlete which I beat on penalties in the semis. The final was against Leon Larman, which I won via split decision. I‘m quite disappointed with the way the last two fights went but sometimes it‘s hard to make it happen at black belt. So next time I will try to submit my opponents, starting with No-Gi Europeans on Saturday.”

2022 Rome International Open team results:

1. Roger Gracie Academy
2. CheckMat
3. ZR Team Association