By Nicole Jomantas~ USA Judo

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – U.S. athletes earned six medals during the final day of competition on Sunday at the Finnish Open, to finish the B-Level Tournament with the highest medal count for any country in the two-day event.

Photo courtesy of USA Judo
Travis Stevens, Gold Medal Winner -81 kg

Team USA beat out second-place Turkey with four gold medals to three and 16 overall compared to Turkey’s four. Host nation Finland finished the event with eight medals, including one gold.

Reigning Pan American Games Champion Travis Stevens (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) earned his first European gold medal in the 81kg division on Sunday, winning all four of his matches by ippon (instant win).

Among Stevens’ wins was a third-round victory over Tyler Boras (CAN) – the third win for the Stevens against Boras in as many weeks after beating the 2006 Pan Am silver medalist at the Sweden Open in Boras last week and the Rendez-Vous Canada two weeks ago in Montreal.

Stevens’ JMJC teammate Justin Flores (Glenville, N.Y. / 66kg) also competed in the finals. After three early round wins, Flores beat James Millar (GBR), a Rotterdam Super World Cup silver medalist in the 60kg division, by ippon (instant win). Flores then lost in the finals to Colin Oates (GBR) who also won gold in Sweden.

Taylor Takata (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center) also fought Oates, but lost their semifinal match. Takata dropped down to the bronze medal match where he beat two-time U.S. Open medalist Michael Popiel (CAN) to place third.