The French national judo team, two-time defending Olympic champions, finished far from the podium at the World Championships in Baku after falling to Russia in the quarterfinals and to Georgia in the repechage, sports reports revealed on Sunday.
Baku Campaign Falters After High Ambitions
The competition in the capital of Azerbaijan marked a difficult conclusion to a tournament where the French Federation had openly targeted four gold titles. Following seven days of individual competition that yielded a meager return of two silver and two bronze medals, the squad struggled to find its footing in the team event. Unlike the triumphant scenes at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021—where the French defeated Japan on home soil—or the dramatic finale at the Paris Games in 2024 sealed by Teddy Riner, Sunday’s tournament offered no such heroic margins.
The squad in Baku traveled without several of its marquee names. Teddy Riner remained sidelined with an ongoing shoulder injury, while Clarisse Agbégnénou and Joan-Benjamin Gaba were also absent from the Arena Champ-de-Mars successors. Without their veteran leaders, the French side found that the experimental draw mechanism—the random “roulette” that determines decisive weight categories in team matches—offered no favors.
Quarterfinal Exit Against Russia
The day began with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Kazakhstan, despite an opening defeat for Tieman Diaby in the over-90kg division. Martha Fawaz righted the course with a yuko, followed by wins from Dayyan Boulemtafes, Clémence Emé, and Aleksa Mitrovic.
The quarterfinal against Russia proved far less forgiving. Boulemtafes, the 20-year-old bronze medalist in the under-73kg category, continued his strong tournament form alongside Emé to give France an early 2-1 lead. After Mansur Lorsanov leveled the score for Russia by pinning Mitrovic with an ippon, Romane Dicko reestablished the French advantage by overpowering Elis Startseva in the women’s division to make it 3-2.
However, Diaby fell to Tamerlan Bashaev in the heavyweight clash, evening the team score at 3-3. The subsequent draw of the roulette selected the under-90kg category, where Mitrovic fell a second time to Lorsanov, eliminating France’s hopes for the world title.
Repechage Defeat by Georgia
Relegated to the repechage for a chance at bronze, the French team encountered a nearly identical script against Georgia. Early victories by Boulemtafes and Emé were tempered by Mitrovic dropping a bout to Lasha Bekauri. Léa Fontaine restored momentum with a dominant ippon over Sophio Somkishvili, pushing France to the brink of a medal match.
Yet losses by Diaby to Irakli Demetrashvili and Martha Fawaz against under-57kg world number one Eteri Liparteliani forced another decisive tiebreaker. Once more, the roulette landed on the under-90kg division. Pitting Mitrovic against double Olympic champion Bekauri left the French side outmatched, sealing a 4-3 defeat.
The result leaves the French team searching for answers with the Los Angeles Olympic Games two years away, compounding a quiet world championship showing following a similarly modest four-medal campaign in Budapest a year prior.
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