Korea wins the medal table in Portugal with home nation second

The first IJF World Judo Tour Event of the year has come to a close. The Grand Prix Portugal produced plenty of spectacular judo and Portuguese gold medals which delighted the Portuguese crowd.

544 athletes from 81 countries took to the tatami in Almada. At the end of the 3 days of competition, it was the Republic of Korea that topped the medal table with 4 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal. A grand total of 26 countries managed to secure at least one of the 56 available medals, further illustrating the depth of judo talent across the world.

The home nation Portugal took a second place in the medal table with two golds and a silver, thanks to Barbara Timo, Patricia Sampaio and Rochele Nunes. While they can be delighted with that ranking, they might wonder what could’ve been, with Nunes leading against Hayun Kim (KOR) in the final, only to hand victory to the Korean.

13 Athletes won their first ever World Judo Tour medal and they will be hoping to use this result as a springboard for further success. There were excellent performances from top seeds Obidkhon Nomonov (UZB), Ilia Sulamanidze (GEO) and Chelsea Giles (GBR) and some standout judo from the prodigious teenagers Yamato Fukuda (JPN), Mihail Latisev (MDA), Dota Arai (JPN) and Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko (UKR).

Judo fans saw the successful return of the great champion Lukas Krpalek at U100kg, after 6 years at the weight above. He fought through patiently to take a bronze medal. There was also a first success at the higher weight category of U90kg for Ivalyo Ivanov (BUL), after he moved up in March last year and it was a gold medal to boot.

Aoife Coughlan (AUS) took home her first ever grand prix gold, in the U70kg category, and only the second ever for her country.

The next stop on the IJF World Tour will come around quickly, as the Paris Grand Slam 2023 kicks off in less than a week’s time. With a great number of athletes entered from even more countries and more valuable Olympic qualification points up for grabs, and a full house, it promises to be another magnificent weekend of judo.