Women’s -48kg
Eva Perez Soler (ESP) won her first IJF World Tour event defeating Laura Espadinha (FRA) with two yukos. She had got silvers in the Tbilisi Grand Slam and the Guadalajara Grand Prix.
For the USA’s Maria Celia Laborde, this competition was a game of hansoku-make. She won her first match by hansoku-make, then lost her second match by hansoku-make. In the repechage, she lost to Andrea Stojadinov (SRB) also by hansoku-make.
Men’s -60kg
The top favorite in this category was France’s Romain Valadier Picard but France had a second player in this category, Enzo Jean. It ended up being an All-French final with the lower-ranked Jean creating an upset by throwing Valadier Picard with a sumi-gaeshi off the ground in the dying seconds of the match.
Women’s -52kg
Distria Krasniqi (KOS) showed her class, winning all her matches by ippon. She threw her first opponent Amanda Lima (BRA) with sasae-tsurikomi-ashi for ippon in just 22 seconds. Next she defeated France’s rising star Blandine Pont with a stylish osoto-gari into harai-goshi combination for ippon in just over two minutes. She won her semifinal match with kouchi-gari into osaekomi for waza-ari-awasete-ippon.
Men’s -66kg
The ever-flamboyant David Garcia Torne (ESP) won this category in style, throwing every one of his opponents with highly unorthodox techniques. He threw his first opponent, Chrystian Silva (BRA) with an unusual combination, starting off with a Heydarov-style kata-guruma but ending with a kosoto-gake for ippon. He won his second match, against Lasha Nadiradze (GEO) with an equally unusual combination, starting off with a Mollaei-style kata-guruma but ending with an ouchi-gari for waza-ari. His semifinal match saw yet another win for Garcia with an unusual combination of ippon-seoi-nage morphing into kosoto-gake for ippon. In the final, he defeated Elios Manzi (ITA) using a Heydarov-styled kata-guruma. This time he didn’t need a combination. It was good enough to score him a waza-ari. It happened in Golden Score so that was good enough to win him the match, and the gold medal.
The USA’s Ari Berliner won his first match, against Driss Masson Jbilou (FRA) with kouchi-makikomi but lost his second match, to Dani Klacar (CRO) by hansoku-make in Golden Score.
Women’s -57kg
Marica Perisic (SRB) defeated home favorite Ana Viktorija Puljiz (CRO) with a cross-grip kata-guruma, a move that was popularized by her compatriot and former World Champion Nemanja Majdov.
