Christa Deguchi (27 = Canada) from Shiojiri City, Nagano won the championship for the second time in four years.

Less than 1 minute into the match against Haruka Funakubo (24 = Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance), who was the runner-up in the previous tournament, she first took away Wazaari with Ouchigari. After 1 minute and 40 seconds, she won the ippon with a perfect body drop off her back.

He showed a bright smile at the top since the 2019 tournament held in his base Japan.

Born between a Canadian father and a Japanese mother, he had high hopes for the future, such as winning the Inter-High School Championship when he was in his first year at Matsusho Gakuen High School in Nagano. She was in the same high school as Megumi Horikawa (née Tsugane) (27 = Park 24), who won last year’s women’s 63 kg class.

However, when he was in Yamanashi Gakuin University, he was invited by the coach of the Canadian national team, and in 2017, when he was a fourth year student, he acquired the same nationality with the aim of competing in the Tokyo Olympics. He became the first Canadian to win the 2019 World Championships. On the other hand, he was faced with the misfortune of missing the Tokyo Games because he finished fifth at the 2021 World Championships due to the corona crisis.

After that, he did not give up on his dream Olympics, and switched his sights to the Paris Olympics next summer from the country. He won the Grand Slam (GS) Baku tournament in November last year and the World Masters Jerusalem tournament in December of the same year. In this tournament as well, he defeated Funakubo, who was runner-up last time, and returned to the world championship for the second time.[Jun Kinoshita]