Until the halfway point, neither managed to break through the other’s armour but as the first two minutes ended, Oino used an almost invisible de-ashi-harai; yuko scored. This meant Tckaev had to up the pace and the pressure. He did but it was not productive. Oino had done enough and could ride out the time to the gong and become the 2026 Paris Grand Slam champion.
In the first bronze medal contest Yoshito Hojo (JPN) and Egor Sukhoparov (RUS) took to the tatami. It remained a tight contest until the very end; with two seconds to go, Sukhoparov tried something new and caught Hojo for a yuko with an unorthodox side sutemi-waza. This was a moment of brilliance that put Sukhoparov on to the Paris podium, a very special place to be indeed.
In the second of the two bronze medal contests, Bernd Fasching (AUT) faced dynamic Kazakh judoka Abylaikhan Zhubanazar. The latter was the first to action, scoring a yuko with a kata-guruma in the first exchange. This refocused the Austrian and he gave no further scores away, but neither did Zhubanazar and so that first yuko became the decider.
Final (-81 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-81 kg)
