Coralie Hayme defeats Stevenson for Abu Dhabi gold

15 years, that's starting to count. It was in fact from 2009, at the very beginning of the World Judo Tour adventure, that Abu Dhabi hosted its first tournament on the world circuit. Since then, the grand slams have followed one another at a steady pace, while other major international competitions have taken place here, including the junior, veteran and kata world championships and last May the senior world championships. This was the last major competition before the Paris Olympic Games. Now a new generation will stand up.

The poster for the +78kg final at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam was quickly known. It pitted two judoka who are used to be seen on the international circuit and who had more than one opportunity to shine during the previous Olympic cycle, although neither of them participated in the Paris 2024 Games.

Coralie Hayme (FRA) has already won the first grand prix of this new cycle. It was in Zagreb in September. This season, she also ranked second in Tbilisi and third in Portugal. In 2021, she became junior world champion. But for the Olympic Games this summer in France, it was logically the world number one, Romane Dicko, who was preferred to her.

Karen Stevenson (NED), during the previous cycle, had bet on moving up to +78kg, which earned her a few places of honour, but not enough to steal the Olympic quota from Marit Kamps.

Both Hayme and Stevenson therefore qualified for the final of this first grand slam of a series that promises to be long between now and 2028 in Los Angeles. Stevenson caused some problems to Hayme with her high kumi-kata at the beginning, but rapidly the Frenchwomen could catch her opponent on the floor and pin her down for ippon. This is gold medal number two for France in Abu Dhabi and once again a clear domination of the country in the women's heavyweight division.

The first contest for the bronze medal was between Karina Takiyeva (KAZ) and Helena Vukovic (CRO) and the victory went to Helena Vukovic with a tactical win in golden score.

Anastasiia Kholodilina (IJF) and Nazgul Maratova (KAZ) faced each other in the second contest for the bronze medal. The victory went to Nazgul Maratova after Kholodilina was penalised a third time.