It must be said that throughout the day, Perez seemed to be in exceptional form, scoring in each of her contests, waza-ari against Alexia Castilhos (BRA), waza-ari against Moka Kuwagata (JPN), two waza-ari within a few seconds against top seed Giovanna Scoccimaro and ippon in the semi-final against Hilde Jager (NED).
Would Kelly Petersen-Pollard (GBR) be able to stop Perez in the final? That was the big question before the beginning of the evening session.
Petersen-Pollard was penalised quickly for breaking the grip, having forgotten that when you do so, you need to keep contact with your opponent to build an attack immediately afterwards. The second penalty came with a little more than one minute to go, this time for passivity. Golden score was still possible until Maria Perez scored waza-ari with a shoulder movement and only 27 seconds left on the clock. She was definitely unstoppable today and once again she scored in the final. It was a beautiful judo day for Maria Perez.
Giovanna Scoccimaro (GER) and Szabina Gercsak (HUN) met in the first bronze medal contest. After another tight match, it took 1 minute and 27 seconds for Scoccimaro to score ippon with an uchi-mata on the edge of the competition area.
Loriana Kuka (KOS) and Hilde Jager (NED) qualified for the second bronze medal contest. Halfway through the allotted time, Jager scored a first waza-ari with a ko-uchi-gari, immediately followed on the floor with a pin for ippon. This is the second bronze medal at a grand prix for the Dutch judoka.
Final (-70 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-70 kg)
