There is no doubt that once again and despite the absence of some big names in the -81s, the category kept all its promises. We had surprises and confirmations, uncertainty too; in short, all the ingredients of a beautiful and great competition. While nothing ever seems set in stone at -81kg, what we've seen today promises even more exciting tournaments in the months to come.
Talking about big names, one was present, well present, as Olympic champion Takanori Nagase reached the final. Always discrete but very consistent, we tend to forget him but eventually he was still present at the right moment and in the right place. After the Tokyo Olympics, Nagase won a bronze medal in Ulaanbaatar for the launch of the Olympic qualification period and a bronze medal again at the last world championships in Tashkent. He was not fully ready yet but today he was. The question was, would his teammate Kenya Kohara be able to dispute the final victory?
Halfway through the final, each athlete had one shido and were quickly penalised with a second shido as they neutralised themselves. Golden score was announced. A penalty would make the difference, even if all spectators were expecting a positive score. To the delight of the public, it was eventually Kenya Kohara who scored with an opportunist sumi-gaeshi to counter the kata-guruma of his famous opponent. Nagase was promised gold again in Tokyo, but today the golden boy was Kenya Kohara.
Two more Japanese qualified for the bronze medal contests, Takeshi Sasaki, facing Alpha Oumar Djalo (FRA) and Sotaro Fujiwara up against François Gauthier Drapeau (CAN). The first bronze medal contest went to Sotaro Fujiwara, who didn't give a single chance to his opponent. The second bronze medal was won by Alpha Oumar Djalo, who definitely engraved this performance on a milestone of his young career. To follow the footsteps of Teddy Riner, ten times world champion and two times Olympic champion, France is looking for new leaders in the male categories. Djalo might become one of those.
Final (-81 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-81 kg)
