Matvey Kanikovskiy

Matvey Gennadievich Kanikovskiy is a Russian judoka and sambist. He is the 2025 World champion, the 2024 European champion and the 2022 Russian national champion.

Background

Kanikovskiy was born in Moscow, Russia. He started judo and sambo at the age of 5. in Sambo-70 club. As of November 2024, Kanikovskiy is ranked sixth in the world in the -100 kg category by the International Judo Federation.

Career

In 2021, Kanikovskiy claimed the junior European title in Luxembourg. He was runner-up at the Grand Slam Abu Dhabi.
In 2022, he won the senior Russian national championships held in Yekaterinburg at 100 kg and earned the gold medal at the grand slam Ulaanbaatar.
In 2023, Matvey won the grand prix in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, two grand slam tournaments in Astana, Kazakhstan and Tokyo, Japan and came third at the pEuropean Championships.
In 2024, he won the grand prix Odivelas, in the final match over 2x world champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili of Spain. In March 2024, he was a finalist at the Grand Slam Tashkent. In April 2024, he won the European championships. In March 2025, he won the Grand Slam in Tashkent. In the final match, he beat his countryman Adam Sangariev.