-90kg: Hajiyev has Sight Set on Gold Since moving up to -90 kg in May 2023, Eljan Hajiyev (AZE) has gone from strength to strength, winning 3 World Judo Tour medals and also becoming European champion in Zagreb just two weeks ago. His meteoric rise has seen him move into a direct qualification position in the Olympic rankings but he still trails his fellow countryman Murad Fatiyev by nearly 800 points. With Fatiyev absent from Astana, a first grand slam gold medal for Hajiyev would take him into the lead; he is seeded sixth and will meet 6-time grand slam winner Mikhail Igolnikov (AIN) should they both make it to the quarter-final stage.
The top seed is double grand slam bronze medallist Rafael Macedo (BRA). The Brazilian hasn’t won a medal on the WJT in his last six attempts so will be keen to buck the trend with a medal here and move into a seeded position in the Olympic ranking list. The gold medallist in Astana last year, Tristani Mosakhlishvili (ESP), returns as the number four seed. The Spaniard, along with fifth seed Komronshokh Ustopiriyon (TJK), currently occupies a very precarious direct qualifying position for the Olympic Games.
Seventh seed David Klammert (CZE) moved into a continental qualifying position after he won silver at the Dushanbe Grand Slam 2024 last week, his first medal in a grand slam, and will be hoping to continue his excellent form in Kazakhstan. He faces one of the bronze medallists from last week, Juyeop Han (KOR) in his opening contest. If he passes that test, a rerun of his quarter-final in Dushanbe, against number two seed Nemanja Majdov (SRB), is on the cards should they both win through.
Several unseeded athletes could also reach an Olympic qualifying position with a good result here, including Marcus Nyman (SWE), John Jayne (USA), Sami Chouchi (BEL) and Altanbagana Gantulga (MGL).
-78kg: Ma and Olek Lead the Pack The top two seeds at -78kg are 2022 world silver medallist Ma Zhenzhao (CHN) and 3-time grand prix winner Anna Monta Olek (GER). Ma comes into the event having picked up a solid bronze medal in the Antalya Grand Slam 2024. Olek is one of three German athletes in a qualifying position for Paris in this category but the 21-year-old will probably have to wait for LA 2028 for her shot at Olympic glory. The only previous meeting between the two came at the 2023 World Championships where Ma was the victor. Olek will be keen to reverse that result should they both win through to the final.
Like last week in Dushanbe, the British pairing of Emma Reid and Natalie Powell are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively, so are likely to meet at the quarter-final stage. Reid marginally extended her slim lead over Powell in the Olympic rankings after her bronze medal in Tajikistan, despite losing to Powell, who eventually finished fifth. Powell could easily close the gap with a positive result here.
Tashkent Grand Slam 2023 silver medallist Giorgia Stangherlin (ITA) is seeded third and faces a potential quarter-final with number six seed Beata Pacut-Kloczko (POL), who will be buoyed by her bronze medal from Dushanbe last week. Loriana Kuka (KOS) hasn’t stood on a World Judo Tour podium since the Dushanbe Grand Prix 2023, so will be keen to break her barren streak, though she will have to get past top seed Ma to do so.
-100kg: Momentum is Building For Fonseca and Wolf At -100kg the men in form are the two former world champions in the weight category. 2-time champ Jorge Fonseca (POR) is the top seed, following his gold and silver medals back in March at the Antalya Grand Slam and Upper Austria Grand Prix, respectively. 2017 world champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Aaron Wolf (JPN) is seeded fourth after he took bronze in Antalya and gold at the Paris Grand Slam in February. The 9-time grand slam medallist finds himself in the last direct Olympic qualification place in the category, so will be aiming to boost his ranking here. The two could meet at the semi-final stage; Wolf has emerged victorious in each of their previous three encounters.
To get to the semi-final Wolf will may have to get the better of home favourite Nurlykhan Sharkhan (KAZ), something he failed to do in their only previous match-up, at the 2023 Asian Championships. Another member of the home team, Islam Bozbayev (KAZ), won bronze at this event last year and will be looking to delight the home crowd once more. Seventh seed Zlatko Kumric (CRO) was the other bronze medallist here in 2023 and is the only seeded judoka who is not currently in a qualifying position for the Olympic Games, so will need to get a good result to stay in the running.
Third seed Daniel Eich (SUI) won the silver medal in Dushanbe last week, so will be full of confidence in Astana. Meanwhile, number two seed Peter Paltchik (ISR) will be eager to get back to winning ways after early exits in his last three grand slams.
+78kg: Team China Has a Good Problem All eyes at +78 kg will be on China’s second and third seeds Xin Su and Shiyan Xu. The pair have jockeyed for pole position for their country since the start of the Olympic qualification period and both find themselves separated by less than 100 points in seeded positions of the Olympic rankings ahead of this event. Su has had the better form recently, taking gold in Tashkent and silver in Antalya in March this year, while Xu has had to settle for seventh place in her previous two grand slam appearances, in Tbilisi and Antalya. With the pair drawn to meet at the semi-final stage, there is certain to be another twist in the tale.
Both will be thankful to have avoided the top half of the draw. Top seed and 2022 world champion Romane Dicko (FRA) heads up Pool A, while 4-time Olympic medallist Idalys Ortiz (CUB) finds herself in Pool B along with Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Akira Sone (JPN). Sone holds a winning record over the other two but struggled somewhat in her previous two outings, at the 2024 Asian Championships and the Tbilisi Grand Slam 2024, missing out on a podium place at both events.
After her silver medal in Dushanbe last week, 22-year-old Kinga Wolszczak (POL) moved to within touching distance of an Olympic qualifying position. A similar result here could put her in a direct qualification place but she will have to stop Su in round 2 to achieve it.
+100kg: Rakhimov Aiming For Second Grand Slam Gold Temur Rakhimov (TJK) has been one of the strongest athletes in the +100 kg category for nearly three years and has won eight grand slam medals in that time. So far though, only one of them has been gold, at the Baku Grand Slam 2022. After picking up a silver in Dushanbe last week, he will have another opportunity to earn a second gold in Astana as the number one seed. Should he make it to the final again, however, his likely opponent will be the number two seed and 2022 world silver medallist Tatsuru Saito (JPN) who holds a 4-0 winning record over the 26-year-old Tajik athlete.
The Dutch duo of Antalya Grand Slam 2023 winner Jelle Snippe and 2022 European champion Jur Spijkers are seeded fourth and sixth, respectively. Though both are within the direct qualification zone in the Olympic rankings, Snippe leads his compatriot by more than 800 points, so Spijkers must get a good result to keep his Olympic dreams alive. He may have to get past Hungary Masters 2023 winner Marti Puumalainen (FIN) at the quarter-final stage.
The host nation’s Galymzhan Krikbay picked up a bronze medal in Dushanbe a week ago but, along with teammate Yerassyl Kazhybayev, he currently lies outside the Olympic qualification places. Both will be hoping for a boost from the home crowd and a good performance to help them climb the rankings. Meanwhile, the battle for an Olympic place for Türkiye between Munir Ertug and Ibrahim Tataroglu continues; Ertug moved into a continental quota position after picking up points in Tajikistan, but Tataroglu is only a few hundred points behind.
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