Having said that, the Spaniard maintained his good form and secured a place in the final to meet the top athlete in pool D, Cédric Revol (FRA). We have noticed previously that Garrigos, when losing, was often against French athletes, like Mkheidze or Valadier-Picard. Would that be the case again in Linz? Actually Revol had a pretty good first part of the competition and having already defeated the world champion in Abu Dhabi in 2023, everything was possible.
After a first shido apiece for gripping the fingers, Garrigos was the first in action as he counter-attacked Revol's seoi-otoshi for a waza-ari. Showing all his skills and control, the world champion later turned Revol and pinned him down for ippon. Revol did everything he could but today the strongest was Garrigos, without any doubt.
Behind the two finalists, we shall mention the excellent competition of Ashley Mckenzie, competing for Jamaica, who after a bye in the first round, went through the preliminaries until the quarter-final where he lost against one of the two Ukrainian judoka, Dilshot Khalmatov. Despite that loss, Mckenzie motivated himself again to reach the final block and the bronze medal contest against Tornike Tsjakadoea (NED). This could have been the first ever medal in a grand prix for Jamaica, but unfortunately for Mckenzie he was penalised a third time in golden score, offering the medal to Tornike Tsjakadoea (NED).
The other bronze medal contest opposed Kanat Seilkhan (KAZ) and Dilshot Khalmatov (UKR). Seilkhan was the first to score, a waza-ari with an uchi-mata. Khalmatov probably thought that the action had started from the ground, which would have offered no score, but that was not the case. The technique was valid, giving Seilkhan a strong advantage. With this waza-ari in his pocket, Dilshot Khalmatov was trying to control his Kazakh opponent but it was on the ground that eventually the Ukrainian saved his day. After a brilliant turn over, he pinned Seilkhan for ippon. The bronze medal was for Dilshot Khalmatov, somewhat against the run of play, but this is judo and this is what we like. Everything is always possible until the referee announces the final ‘soremade.’
We can also mention that Yuta Higuchi (JPN) did not make it to the final block. It's not that his was a big name of the Japanese team but we all know that this is not a reason not to take Japanese athletes into consideration. Even when unseeded, they can surprise a lot of experienced judoka; not in Linz though!
The final note is for Vache Adamyan (AUT), one of the young Austrian judoka competing today. Ranked 130th in the world, he nevertheless reached the repechage and finished in an honourable 7th place.
Final (-60 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-60 kg)
