No seventh crown for Clarisse Agbégnénou: two months before the Olympics, the French judoka was beaten in the quarter-finals of the World Championships, Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, by the Canadian Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, world No.1.
The 31-year-old Frenchwoman will be able to aim, at best, for a bronze medal if she wins her next repechage fight in this -63 kg category against the Croatian Iva Oberan.
Facing the Canadian Beauchemin-Pinard, world No.1 who is aiming for her first world title, Agbégnénou did not find the solution and was beaten on waza-ari (one point).
Knocked down on the side about a minute from time, Agbégnénou tried everything to reverse the score, without success. This is the first time that she has lost against the Canadian, whom she had beaten in the half of the Olympics three years ago and in the quarters of the 2023 World Cup.
The six-time world champion started the day with an easy victory against the Polish Natalia Kropska, 24 years old and 79th in the world, broke on a school o-soto-gari (ippon).
She then overthrew the Japanese Megumi Horikawa, 2022 world champion against whom she had a tough fight, at the Paris tournament in February, won after more than 12 minutes, including eight in overtime.
In the repechage match, she was sluggish but ended up winning against Croatian Iva Oberan. A victory which opens the door to bronze for him.
At the Olympics, in addition to the Canadian, it is another Japanese, Miku Takaichi, whom she could find on her road to a second individual Olympic title.
After a seventh place at the European Championships in Montpellier at the end of 2023, Clarisse Agbégnénou set the record straight by winning the prestigious Paris tournament with authority, then that of Tashkent.