king Oberfischbach.It was five days after his 22nd birthday, July 17, 2022 in Winterthur, when Jonas Schreiber gave himself a belated gift on the edge of the Zurich Oberland. The local judoka had successfully cleared all opponents in the class over 100 kilograms. First the Briton Christopher Sherrington, then the Italian Lorenzo Turini and last but not least the New Zealander Kody Andrews. The athlete from Sport-Union Annen celebrated his first international gold medal in the men’s division, he climbed the top step of the podium and the German national anthem was played in his honour. Emotional moments in the life of the young competitive athlete, who enjoyed the recognition of his achievements in Winterthur: “It’s cool when you finish first and hear the anthem. A gold medal is always something special.”
But the success in Switzerland this year was not his only one on the European judo stage: the man from Oberfischbach has been on the mat four times this year at international tournaments, four times he has returned with a medal. It was less than two weeks ago that Schreiber won the silver medal at the European Open in Oberwart, Austria. And on the way to this 2nd place, he had to clear a “big chunk” out of the way, because after a win against the Guinean Moustapha Fofana, none other than the world number 12 Andy Granada was waiting for the winning country in the second fight. “I sent him off the mat with penalties. The Cuban was too passive, I looked more active,” said Schreiber, describing his recipe for success against Granada.
In the semifinals, a local hero from Austria, Daniel Allerstorfer, was waiting. “This is an experienced fighter who has been involved for a long time. I was able to throw it after about one and a half minutes after the end of the regular fighting time in the golden score,” reported the athlete, who grew up with TV Freudenberg, about his entry into the final, in which Richard Sipocz, fifth in the European Championship, slowed down the winning country’s triumph. After an initially balanced fight, Schreiber only had to admit defeat to the Hungarian in the golden-score overtime. “He’s a year younger than me, but he’s already one of the top athletes in the world. It was a super exciting fight in which he ended up coming out on top. Despite the defeat, I didn’t let myself be thrown from right to left”, Schreiber left the mat with his head held high, especially since the journey to the tournament in Burgenland was not particularly easy for him. “I drove there myself the day before, it was a real strain. I made something good out of it for that.”
Jonas Schreiber also made something “good” out of the European Open in Madrid (three wins, one defeat) and the European Open in Romanian Cluj-Napoca (two wins, one defeat), where he won the bronze medal in each case.
As nice as these medals and successes are, the man from Oberfischbach would like to go even higher. “I’m glad I’ve had this continuity over the past few months and have always shown that I belong. But the absolute top athletes tend to be at the Grand Slam and Grand Prix tournaments. I would like to start there in the long run. At the moment my German rivals Erik Abramov and Johannes Frey are a bit ahead, but I’m waiting for my chances and if I get them I want to take them. The national trainers know me and know that I paw my hooves”, Schreiber hopes to be able to compete with the best “heavyweights” in the world in the future.
But until that happens, there are plenty of other tasks waiting for the 22-year-old. There is the Bundesliga, in which he and his team, Sport-Union Annen, would like to make it into the final round of the German championship. The Witteners are in second place in the north season two days before the end of the preliminary round, one point is still missing to reach the final round.
At the beginning of October, Schreiber has the opportunity to expand this year’s collection of medals at the European Cup in Slovenia, before the U-23 European Championships in Bosnia-Herzegovina on the last weekend in October are a big highlight. “It’s my dream to perform well there and to confirm last year’s medal,” the Oberfischbacher, who won bronze at the U-23 European Championships last year, would like to send another sporting “letter of recommendation” to the German Judo Federation .
Perhaps not the worst time, because Schreiber is in the last phase of his training with the federal police, and the final exams are due in January and February 2023. “Then a lot of the stress falls away from me and I can focus on judo. Then I can concentrate completely on the sport, as long as I belong to the sports promotion group and the performance allows it,” Jonas Schreiber would of course not mind if the German anthem was played in his honor more often in the future. Like on July 17, 2022 in Winterthur …
