For the first 3 minutes the contest swung backwards and forwards but as the final minute approached Endovitskii extended his arms further and further down Ota’s back, an awkward style of gripping that Ota didn’t have an adequate solution for. Endovitskii continued on his path and just before the final bell he used exactly that grip to reach across and wind into a soto-makikomi. As the referee called “waza-ari” the scoreboard also clicked down to zero. Japan did not have the heavyweight gold, this medal belonged to Valerii Endovitskii.
The first bronze medal would go to either last year’s Tokyo Grand Slam winner Kanta Nakano (JPN) or 2022 junior world champion Yuta Nakamura (JPN). It was a close contest for the full 4 minutes with neither able to break the deadlock. In golden score, Nakano began to edge things and after just 45 extra seconds he secured a hold. After 5 seconds the referee called “soremade,” a yuko was enough to send Nakano to the podium.
Current Olympic silver medallist and 2024 world champion Minjong Kim (KOR) faced current and double world champion Inal Tasoev (RUS) for the last medal of the category. The first attack was a dropping tai-otoshi from Kim, avoided by Tasoev. The very next exchange saw them reverse roles, Kim avoiding Tasoev’s tai-otoshi. Each had a warning from the other!
With a minute to go Kim attempted to attack across the front of Tasoev but he was ready and countered with a deep nidan-ko-soto-gari. It scored which made Kim work even harder. He came close with a kata-guruma but Tasoev was too wise to it all and held his ground until the bell.
Final (+100 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (+100 kg)
