At the veterans world championships in Sarajevo, Vanessa Martin secured a bronze medal in the F3 minus-57 kilogram category despite competing through a torn anterior cruciate ligament, as La Dépêche du Midi reported. The tournament for judokas over 30 years old ran from September 20 to 24, followed by the kata championships on September 26 and 27.
Sarajevo Injury and the Road to Bronze
Vanessa Martin, a professor and athlete representing the Judo Kodokan-Club lislois from L’Isle-Jourdain and a double world champion from Abu Dhabi in 2023 and Las Vegas in 2024, returned to international competition after missing the 2025 championships in Paris due to professional obligations. During her quarterfinal match against an opponent from Spain, which she won by ippon, she sustained a knee injury that a medical examination upon her return to France confirmed as an anterior cruciate ligament rupture.
Despite the physical damage, Martin continued fighting. She lost her semifinal bout to a Belgian opponent in golden score time before securing the bronze medal by defeating a British competitor by ippon in the third-place match.
Kata Pair Finishes Fourth Behind Italy
In the technical kata discipline, Didier Bournhol and Frédéric Esteves of the Judo-Club Gascon d’Auch competed as one of twelve duos selected for the French national team. Performing in the Itsutsu no kata among fourteen competing nations, the seventh-dan partners finished fourth, missing a podium spot by just two points behind the Italian pair.
Upcoming European Championships in Portugal
The Judo Kodokan-Club lislois turns its attention to the veterans European championships scheduled in Portugal at the end of October. The club will send Olivier Finkelstein, who placed third at the world championships in Paris in 2025, alongside Benjamin Saindon, who prepares for his first international appearance after finishing fifth in the minus-100 kilogram division at the 2026 French masters championships.
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