For Tsunoda Roustant, the gold medal completes a truly exceptional world championship collection. Having already been world champion as a cadet and as a junior twice, she now holds the senior title as well. It is a rare achievement, one that speaks to the quality of an athlete able to develop, endure and continue winning as every new stage of a career presents greater demands.
Her victory in Baku is more than the fulfilment of a personal ambition. It confirms the arrival of a champion who has long carried the expectations that come with her immense potential. There is a particular weight to a senior world gold. It is earned through the deepest fields, against opponents who have prepared for years for exactly the same moment. On this day, Tsunoda Roustant showed she was ready to take her place on the very top of the world.
In the -90 kg category, Murao’s performance brought a different form of brilliance. A student of Tokai University, an institution deeply linked to Yasuhiro Yamashita that remains one of the great homes of Japanese judo, Murao offered a lesson in the value of technical precision.
His judo was clear, controlled and remarkably pure. Against a powerful and demanding field, he imposed his rhythm through movement, timing and an instinctive understanding of how to create the decisive opening. There was nothing forced in his approach. Each sequence seemed to unfold naturally, as if the solution had already been seen before the attack was launched.
That is what made Murao’s route to the title so compelling. In a category where physical intensity is often the defining factor, Murao stood above the rest through the quality of his judo. He combined the tradition of Tokai with a modern ability to dictate the contest, showing that technical intelligence remains one of the sport’s most decisive strengths.
The day therefore offered two powerful stories. For Spain, Tsunoda Roustant’s title marks the completion of a remarkable progression through every world championship age category. For Japan, Murao’s victory adds another chapter to an extraordinary championships and illustrates, once again, the depth of a system capable of producing judoka of such refinement.