Army Judo's Christi Pretorius wins two gold medals at British Championships
Army Judo's Lance Corporal Christi Pretorius has won two gold medals at the 2022 U21 British Judo Championships.
LCpl Pretorius won the women's junior +78kg title before she went on to also take home the senior title in the same weight category.
Army Judo's team manager, Staff Sergeant Nathan Lockey, said the weekend was a "great success".
He said: "For LCpl Pretorius, she has been at Field Army for just three weeks now, so for her to come into the British Nationals having gone through so much on basic training, to cause some upset, to say the least, is great news.
"The British Army haven't had a National Champion in many years and to do it twice in one weekend is nothing short of outstanding, she really was head and shoulders above the competition we faced on the Saturday and the Sunday."
On the men's side, Craftsman Vladimir Oleinic took home more hardware for the Army as the judoka won the bronze medal in the men's senior under-81kg category.
SSgt Lockey said: "You couldn't ask for more from a warrior, his performance on the day was phenomenal.
"We need to remember that both Christi and Vlad were fighting the top level of British athletes, these people are pushing on the international scene and they're looking at the Commonwealth Games, the junior World Cup and stuff like that.
"We're not just turning up anymore, we're getting ourselves on that medal podium and we are showing off Army Judo in what is such a good light, at the moment."
Congratulations to Christi Pretorius on winning her 2nd Gold medal of the weekend !
— British Army Sport (@ArmySportASCB) December 12, 2022
+78kg British Junior Champion ?
+78kg British Senior Champion ?
Congratulations to Vladimir Oleinic on his British Senior bronze
U81 British senior bronze ?@britishjudo#BritishArmySportpic.twitter.com/f6QL9advT6
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