Highlights From the Women’s Preliminaries - Day 6

Olaya was junior world champion just two years so her 7th place in Baku points to a career that continues to be on the right track. This young Colombian will be back!

Kurena Ikeda arrived as the fourth seed and might have thought her route to the semi-final would be pretty guaranteed, but close to her on the world ranking is Kaila Issoufi of France, the fifth seed in Baku. Issoufi put Ikeda out of contention for the crown and went to the final herself instead. Ikeda would be fighting for bronze but it wasn’t what she had aimed at.

On the other half of the draw, Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko (UAE) looked poised to take names and she did just that, Audrey Tcheumeo (FRA) being the biggest of them. Audrey has world, Olympic and Paris medals brimming over the top of her CV, an impressive career that remains in full swing. Their round-of-16 contest was a test for both.

Lytvynenko took that win by a yuko and an accumulation of penalties but that is not to say that it was easy. Fighting Audrey is never easy. A relieved Lytvynenko then carried on to the final, passing strong Portuguese star Patricia Sampaio in their semi-final.

Issoufi and Lytvynenko put together a great day of judo, stringing one win to the next and enjoying the chance to shine on such a stage. Their final is bound to be an all-action, edge-of-our-seats affair. Catch this and all medal contests of the day live on JudoTV at 6pm local time.