In Pool A, Joshua Green (IRL) was in the form of his career. The 24-year-old was making his 15thgrand slam appearance and before today had always finished outside the top eight. In round 2 he faced the number eight seed and silver medallist from this event last year, Adam Stodolski (POL). The Irishman threw his opponent with two strong soto-makikomi attacks to score two waza-aris in under two minutes. He took even less time to defeat Masuyuki Terada (THA) in round 3, submitting the Thai athlete in just 50 seconds with juji-gatame.
Meanwhile in pool B, the current junior world champion Vusal Galandarzade (AZE) was making waves. He got the better of Arun Kumar (IND) in round 1 with two waza-ari scores and then Paris Grand Slam 2023 silver medallist Giorgi Chikelidze (GEO) in round 2, also by waza-ari-awasete-ippon. For his next trick, he knocked out home favourite and fourth seed Daniyar Shamshayev (KAZ), scoring ippon with o-uchi-gari with less than 30 seconds remaining in the contest. In the quarter-final against fifth seed Tohar Butbul (ISR), a waza-ari scored using o-soto-gari was enough to see him through.
The hero of pool C was the home team’s Bakhitzhan Abdurakhmanov (KAZ). The Zagreb Grand Prix 2023 bronze medallist threw Maxime Gobert (FRA) for ippon in round 1 with an unusual cross grip o-uchi-gari. He took a tactical victory over Jahja Nurkovic (MNE) in round 2, defeated Eunkyul Lee (KOR) in round 3 by waza-ari, before submitting number two seed Makhmadbek Makhmadbekov (AIN) with okuri-eri-jime just 50 seconds into their quarter-final.
All those excellent preliminary performances aside, Lombardo and Lavrentev cruised through their respective halves of the draw to make it to the final. Lombardo defeated Darkhan Koibagar (KAZ) and Alexander Bernd Gabler in the early rounds, before throwing Green with a huge seoi-nage for ippon in the second minute of their quarter-final. In his semi-final with Galandarzade, he threw the Azeri for ippon with ura-nage in the dying seconds after a closer match.
Lavrentev made excellent use of his ne-waza skills on his route to the final. He submitted Igor Wandtke in round 2 with ude-garami, then threw Mukhammadjonov (UZB) in golden score in round 3 with hikikomi-gaeshi. Against Karim Abdulaev (UAE) in the quarter-final, he once again applied ude-garami, this time to turn and hold the Emirati athlete to score ippon. That same turnover served him well against Abdurakhmanov in the semi-final; the exhausted Kazakh was held for ippon in the final minute.
In the final, Lombardo caught Lavrentev by surprise, throwing him with sode-tsurikomi-goshi just six seconds in to score waza-ari. A fascinating ne-waza exchange lasting a full minute followed, where Lavrentev attempted an ude-garami once more to try to turn and submit Lombardo but the Italian defended admirably. After that exchange, Lombardo went into defensive mode and held on to earn his fourth grand slam gold medal. Lavrentev adds a second grand slam silver medal to his rapidly-growing collection.
Though both were deserving of a podium place, Green and Abdurakhmanov would have to contest the first bronze medal match, after Green applied another strong juji-gatame to submit Butbul in their repechage contest.
Green was dominant in the first half of the contest, putting his opponent under pressure several times on the edge of the contest area. Abdurakhmanov found his way back into the fight, however, and eventually threw Green for waza-ari with one minute remaining, countering a kata-guruma attempt from the Irishman with hikikomi-gaeshi. That score was enough to earn Abdurakhmanov his first ever grand slam medal. Green achieves the best finish for an Irish athlete in a grand slam in five years.
The second bronze medal contest was settled between Makhmadbekov and Galandarzade. The two were very evenly matched but two penalties in the space of 20 seconds for Galandarzade put him under pressure. 30 seconds into golden score, Makhmadbekov countered a weak attack from the Azeri to score waza-ari and win his seventh grand slam medal. Despite a good performance, the Individual Neutral Athlete will rue losing ground to his counterpart Lavrentev in the Olympic rankings.
Final (-73 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-73 kg)
