First Grand Slam title for Ukrainian Anton Savytskiy

Two judoka clashed in the prerounds of the category U100kg in Tbilisi, Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (CUB) and Simeon Catharina (NED). Silva Morales defeated Leonardo Goncalves (BRA), while Catharina eliminated former world champion (2023) Arman Adamian (IJF).

The final opposed Anton Savytskiy (UKR) and Simeon Catharina (NED). Once again, we witnessed a normal-time-free-of-penalty-contest, both judoka being very active. There was not enough momentum to score though, despite several dangerous situations. In the golden score period, after another uncertain situation, Anton Savytskiy followed on the floor and climbed on top of Catharina to pin him down for a yuko. Savytskiy is the gold medallist.

Kyle Reyes (CAN) and Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (CUB) faced off in what was announced as a tough battle for the first bronze medal. There were no penalties during normal time but no scores either, both judoka being active but not precise enough to throw. In golden score, a more tactical contest began and eventually Kyle Reyes was the least tired of the two and scored a yuko with a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi to take the bronze medal.

Arman Adamian (IJF) and Martin Bezdek (CZE) stepped on the tatami for the second bronze medal contest. Bezdek was warned rapidly that it might be a bad idea to go to ne-waza with the former world champion as Adamian caught him with an immobilisation for yuko. The second attempt was a good one; this time Adamian could hold Bezdel for 20 seconds for ippon. It was a bronze medal for Arman Adamian.

The -100 kg category promised to be at the very least exciting, if not completely unbridled, and it was. It began with one of the biggest surprises of the day with the premature elimination of Ilia Sulamanidze (GEO). Let's be honest, this wasn't expected by anyone, not by the crowd and certainly not by Sulamanidze himself.

After a clear victory against George Udsilauri (GER) in the first round, he fell into a Swedish trap, that of Karl Baathe (SWE), who played his part perfectly and didn't succumb to the crowd or his opponent's pressure. Having scored a yuko relatively early in the bout, Baathe was able to hold on and completely outmaneuver Ilia Sulamanidze, who found himself out of breath and without a solution. A major chill fell over the stadium.
Clearly in good form, Karl Baathe looked set to continue his exemplary run and was leading by a waza-ari when he was finally defeated by Martin Bezdek (CZE), letting his chance slip away. For Bezdek, it was the perfect scenario and he was able to face Anton Savytskiy (UKR) in the semi-final after the latter had defeated former world silver medallist Kyle Reyes (CAN). Unfortunately for Martin Bezdek this was the end of the dream of a gold medal as he was defeated by Savytskiy.