He is definitely back. After six years of absence from the World Championships, Teddy Riner beat the Russian Inal Tasoev in difficulty, with the golden score, to win his 11th world crown on Saturday at the Doha Worlds. The undisputed master of heavyweights, only bronze medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021, reaffirms his domination of the category, just over a year from the Paris Olympics.
The Russian Tasoev, who was fighting under a neutral flag, thought he would win during extra time by knocking Riner down before the referees invalidated the movement, because he had lost his support. A few seconds later, after more than 7 minutes of an unbreathable fight, the Frenchman placed a fateful attack. It was by achieving a waza-ari, that is to say by knocking his opponent over the shoulder, that the 34-year-old tricolor giant offered himself his eleventh world title, sixteen years after his first title.
“I will savor”
Wrung out, Teddy Riner lay on his back after greeting his opponent. “It was just mental. It was very difficult because I had an all-nighter, it was difficult to express myself today, ”he reacted to the microphone of the L’Équipe channel after his fight.
“But it’s good that there are days like that. That way people stop thinking it’s easy, that there’s nobody. It’s always hard, there are always people. Excuse me for the expression, but you have to tear your balls out to win! Sorry kids… he then laughed. When you work, it pays. I cross my fingers (for Paris 2024), with this World Championship I will know what I have left to work on. But I’m still going to savor this new title after so much time away. »
Before the competition, Teddy Riner had described these World Championships as “training” for the Olympic Games.
