In the final Kondo (JPN) had to face both Shirine boukli (FRA) and the crowd, many thousands of voices all willing their French fighter to win. It was a very close contest, a traditional battle between the left-handed Japanese and the right-handed French, sleeve control being all-important. Kondo was dangerous in transition to the ground but both offered risk to the other in tachi-waza.
As the contest went into extra time, the spectators cheered louder still. That, combined with the great athlete-coach relationship between Boukli and her coach, Kilian Le Blouch, seemed to give her some extra power and despite some struggles in ne-waza she seemed able to recover from each danger. Three minutes into golden score though, Mitsuki Kondo found her gap and secured an osae-komi. 5 seconds were enough to send this first grand slam gold medal of 2025 to Japan.
In the first bronze medal contest Martinez Abelenda was almost thrown straight off the mark with a seoi-otoshi but the review process showed no score should be assigned. Wakana Koga would have to dig in and fight harder to get the score as the Spanish fighter was ready for the onslaught. However, with 17 seconds to go the defence became less effective and the seoi-otoshi finally broke through to score ippon. Koga would be on the podium for Japan. The 2023 World Judo Masters and 2024 Tokyo Grand Slam champion would have to settle for 3rd place in Paris though. No doubt she will look to climb to the top step as the season progresses.
The second contest for a bronze was fought between Stojadniov (SRB) and Olympic bronze medallist Babulfath (SWE), the latter scoring very quickly with a yuko throw straight into a 5 second hold down, notching up a second yuko by way of the new osae-komi timing rule. She stayed on the offensive throughout, maximising her chances by atacking hard in transition phases, giving the Serbian no opportuinuty to equalise or lead. As the clock ran down it was clear that the Swedish teenager had done her homework and was again in great form, adding a Paris Grand Slam bronze to her already impressive CV.
Final (-48 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-48 kg)
