It was an understandably close contest initially, each judoka picking up a penalty for a gripping infringement. Enzo Jean collected one more in the third minute, putting him under pressure. At this point Valadier Picard may have thought his job was done but then he seemed to give it away, attacking with a poorly placed seoi-otoshi.
Immediately Jean picked him up and rolled him all the way over the top, the landing earning a yuko. With only 41 seconds left on the clock, the scoreline did not change again and against the run of play Enzo Jean had his first grand prix gold.
In the first bronze medal contest, Biagio D Angelo (ITA) and Huseyn Allahyarov (AZE) went toe-to-toe, a conflict of styles and intentions visible from the outset. D Angelo wanted to keep his distance, allowing him space to turn with a seoi-otoshi or employ technical ashi-waza attacks. Allahyarov did everything to close the space down, looking for full body contact, counters, pick-ups and close-quarter-grappliing. This was a true fight for the territory between them.
The Azerbaijani judoka looked to be more dangerous than his opponent and as the time ticked away he became stronger and stronger, eventually countering without a score but with an entry into ne-waza, where he held D Angelo for ippon.
Luis Barroso Lopez (ESP) and Ren Yokoi (JPN) stepped on to the tatami to grip up for the second bronze medal of the -60 kg category. The latter struggled to keep his posture under the strong grip of Barroso Lopez, an advantage he was determined to keep. Yokoi could not find a solution to the European gripping problem and learned a tough lesson about international styles but as this is his first outing away from home, this is to be expected. Barroso Lopez won bronze via penalties.
Final (-60 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-60 kg)
