Haruka Kaju’s first match was against Jessica Klimkait (CAN), whom she had fought and beaten before in 2025. The last time they fought, Kaju pinned Klimkait for ippon. This time around, Klimkait was able to avoid that but eventually lost by penalties in Golden Score.
Although Klimkait was able to stop Kaju’s turnover into osaekomi, Kaju’s next opponent, Joana Crisostomo (POR) couldn’t. Gankhaich Bold (MGL) was able to keep Kaju’s leg entangled but succumbed to ude-garami.
Former World Champion Joanne Van Lieshout (NED) had fought and lost to Kaju three times in the past, and was by now very familiar with her newaza. In fact, she had developed a strong and effective defense against it. But she succumbed to Kaju’s throws. At first Kaju threw her with uchimata for yuko, then ura-nage for another yuko and finally tomoe-nage for ippon.
Many pundits had expected Kaju’s final opponent to be Clarisse Agbegnenou, whom she had never fought before. But Agbegnenou unexpectedly lost in the quarterfinal. Who emerged on the other side instead was Kerem Primo (ISR), which was really unexpected.
Primo had done remarkably well to make it to the final but Kaju was a bridge too far. Kaju threw her with drop morote-seoi-nage for yuko, then proceeded to pin her. Primo managed to get out and conceded only a yuko but Kaju immediately followed up with another roll, and this time, she held on for ippon. And with that, she became a double World Champion.
