We know that the defender of the title is the Belgian Matthias Casse, a rock, a tough guy who takes advantage of the opponent's mistakes better than anyone else. His judo grows over time and he is likely to reach at least the semi-finals. There is the number one in the ranking, the Georgian Tato Grigalashvili, that wonder of judo who amazes in every fight, but with obvious mental gaps, perhaps his only weak point. He too will fight for the medals if he doesn't lose his temper. These two are safe bets.
Behind them is a squad of fearsome candidates led by the Turkish Vedat Albayrak, the Uzbek Sharorifiddin Boltaboev and the promising Brazilian Guiherme Schimidt. The Turk has been in the top ten for two years but he hasn't quite caught on. The Uzbek is one of those who can defeat everyone but also lose in the first round in an inexplicable way. The Brazilian is the new jewel in his country's academy and he has decided to accelerate the learning process because he wants to be considered a veteran.
Precisely, there are two with the ability to put everyone to attention, the Azeri Saeid Mollaei and the Israeli Sagi Muki, whose first confrontation took place in Budapest a few months ago. They are two candidates, especially Muki, with little chance if they don't show up with their best judo but since they are both former world champions, they will have something to say, if only out of pride.
The unknown comes from Japan, from the hand of Takanori Nagase. The Olympic champion was the best in Tokyo, far superior but, since then, we have only seen him once, in Mongolia, and his bronze was not enough for us because he was not the same Nagase. He had to suffer to get the bronze and his judo left many more questions than answers. If he wants to have a voice in the debate, he will have to recover the level shown a year ago.
There are more, always present and with medal options, men like the Dutchman De Wit and the Belgian Chouchi, but they do not appear among the most performed equations either.
The good, the mysterious, comes now. Among all these people, all with stripes and something to say, an independent candidate has emerged, as if he were Ross Perot, but whose credentials are much better than those of the American billionaire. His name is Lee Joonhwan, he comes from Korea and when we say that he has a strong electoral base, it is because it is true. Joonhwan, only 20 years old, allowed himself the luxury of appearing in society in Tbilisi, the land of Georgian warriors, and unremittingly defeating Grigalashvili, at his rival's house, in front of his public. In case some clueless had not found out, the Korean repeated gold in Ulanbaatar with extraordinary ease. He is a supersonic type of fast and has not yet shown his entire repertoire. Joonhwan could be the not-so-surprising big surprise of the world championships, the one who changes things, the one who reshuffles the cards.
This is what we know, which is a lot, but this list doesn't mean anything either because reality is what comes when everything is over.