By beating the last two Olympic finalists, the South Korean Kim Min-jong won his first heavyweight world champion title this Thursday in Abu Dhabi and will be one of the threats to Teddy Riner at the Olympics. At 23, Kim Min-jong won the biggest title of his young career by dominating Georgian Guram Tushishvili, 2018 world champion and reigning Olympic vice-champion, in the 100 kg final.
In the absence of Teddy Riner or other favorites, such as the Russian Inal Tasoev or the Japanese Tatsuru Saito, the South Korean still had a lot to do since he also beat the reigning Olympic champion in the semi-final. Czech Lukas Krpalek. In bronze, the Uzbek Alisher Yusupov, another contender for the Olympic coronation in this very dense category, and the Russian Tamerlan Bashaev, who will not be at the Games, completed the podium.
In the women’s 78 kg, it was the Japanese Wakaba Tomita who was crowned, although she was not at the Games. She beat in the final the Turkish Kayra Ozdemir, born in Martinique and who fought among the young people for France before changing federation in 2015.