In the final, teenager Ariunzaya Terbish (MGL), already in possession of a single grand slam medal, faced Olga Mukhina (RUS), another young judoka looking for her first World Judo Tour result. The 21-year-old Russian gave everything she had to win the gold and with a well-timed o-uchi-gari scored a yuko that made all the difference to the final result.
Terbish pressured hard but only earned a single shido back and had to accept the silver medal. Mukhina’s first medal on the World Judo Tour is a grand slam gold, an impressive introduction to results at this level. She was happy with her performance, “It is my first medal at an IJF event and to begin with a gold is more than I ever expected. I hope this is the beginning of a long series of collecting rewards.”
The first bronze medal contest was an all-Chinese derby, Nan Wang, with no reference at this level, up against Yuying Tao, already a medallist in Dushanbe at the 2025 edition of this grand slam.
It was a long and challenging contest, neither athlete wanting to leave Dushanbe without a result but at this stage of the competition only one can make it to the podium. In this instance, it took a number of additional minutes for the winner to be decided. The experience of Tao, a little more developed than that of her counterpart, paid dividends and eventually she won on penalties.
Chloe Devictor (FRA) was disappointed not to reach the final after a loss in the quarter-final against Mukhina. To step on to the podium she would now have to contend with 2025 Dushanbe Grand Slam silver medallist Natalia Elkina (RUS), robust in the kumi-kata phases. Two yuko scores from the Russian were impossible to equalise despite a great deal of effort and Devictor had to manage her second disappointment of the day. Elkina had her second grand slam medal and could enjoy the atmosphere in the arena.
Final (-57 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-57 kg)
