At the top of the draw, Romane Dicko spared no expense in eliminating all her opponents. She made short work of Sophio Somkhishvili (GEO) and Helena Vukovic (CRO), reaching the semi-finals against Marti Kamps (NED), who herself made it through the rounds without incident. It's worth noting that in the quarter-finals, Kamps defeated her compatriot Karen Stevenson, thus strengthening her hold on the category in the Netherlands.
Asya Tavano was therefore eliminated by Elis Startseva (IJF) and the latter advanced to the semi-finals to face the second Frenchwoman in the category, Julia Tolofua. It remained to be seen whether we would be treated to an all-French final, as French judoka have largely dominated the category in recent years, even though the Olympic title went to Brazil at the Paris 2024 Games.
While Dicko held firm and reached her eighth career grand slam final, this was not the case for Tolofua, who was defeated by Startseva. We thus witnessed a final between Dicko and Startseva. We were expecting big scores and the big score came from Dicko throwing with a massive makikommi for waza-ari, concluded on the floor with an immobilisation for ippon. This is the right place for Dicko after her come back. This is also her eighth gold medal in a grand slam.
The first bronze medal match featured Helena Vukovic (CRO) against Julia Tolofua (FRA). It was a tactical win for the French judoka.
Asya Tavano (ITA) and Marit Kamps (NED) faced off for the second bronze medal. It seemed like it would be another tactical win, but in golden score, Marit Kamps changed direction and scored a yuko with a o-uchi-gari to take the bronze medal.
Final (+78 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (+78 kg)
