-57 kg: The Canadian Rivalry Returns in Favour of Klimkait

In this little game, it was finally the two Canadians who came out the best, since Deguchi and Klimkait qualified for the final. Before it began, Deguchi could reasonably be offered a small advantage as she proved to be imperial in each of her preliminary matches, while Klimkait suffered but held on.

It is certain that those two have known each other for a long time and that their peaceful but competitive rivalry has been feeding comments for many years. Today the rivalry was in favour of Klimkait. Despite looking more precise and sharp, Deguchi couldn't score, which Klimkait did after a last seoi-nage attack. The opposition between the two is far from being over.

After having mentioned all the contenders, we should not forget the reigning world champion, Rafaela Silva (BRA), who could still be on the podium after her confrontation with Timna Nelson-Levy. Their long match remained uncertain, as neither Nelson-Levy nor Silva seemed to be able to score. Thus, only penalties were written on the scoreboard. In golden score, after minutes of battle, the third shido went to Silva for a false attack, propelling a wave of hurrahs among the public. It was bronze for Nelson-Levy.

Daria Bilodid is winning her bet. Although she still lacks a bit of physicality and precision against opponents like Deguchi who left her no chance in the semi-finals, she is more and more consistent in her new category. Let's not forget that at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Bilodid was still competing at -48kg, two categories down. For a place on the podium like in Paris two weeks ago, she still had to throw a little energy into her match against Mina Libeer (BEL) but Bilodid was eventually unable to compete and so the bronze medal went to Mina Libeer.