He didn't tremble. Teddy Riner qualified for the Antalya Grand Slam final on Sunday, where he will face Japan's Tatsuru Saito in a preview of this summer's big Olympic event.
The double Olympic heavyweight champion (2012, 2016) will aim for gold late in the afternoon after 5:00 p.m. local time (4:00 p.m. French time). Facing him is Tatsuru Saito, 22, representing Japan for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Riner had already beaten him in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Championships.
The 34-year-old Guadeloupean is back in competition in Turkey after his record eighth title at the Paris Grand Slam in February. In Antalya, he started by sweeping Bahraini Azamat Chotchaev in 52 seconds. He then dismissed the 27-year-old Dutchman Jur Spijkers then the Brazilian Rafael Silva, another 36-year-old vestige of the “Riner generation”, on disqualification after three penalties (hansoku make).
Malonga scores points
In the half, Riner brought down the 24-year-old German Erik Abramov, obtaining a point (waza-ari), without scoring ippon. He then won again on hansoku make.
DAY 3 - FINAL BLOCK 💪🇫🇷
🥇 Madeleine Malonga (-78kg), Julia Tolofua (+78kg) and Teddy Riner (+100kg) have a date with gold this afternoon.
🥉 Léa Fontaine (+78kg) will try to win bronze.
💻 Follow the final block live from 4 p.m. on https://t.co/QKP32ZNNcG… pic.twitter.com/HRqw7JwQ4c
— France Judo (@francejudo) March 31, 2024
Two other tricolors will try to win gold this afternoon in Turkey. Among the women, Julia Tolofua (+78 kg) and Madeleine Malonga (-78 kg) also qualified for the final of their category. Tolofua will face the Chinese Xin Su while Malonga will face the German Alina Boehm.
The Francilienne, Olympic vice-champion in 2021 in Tokyo, has already scored valuable points in the race for Olympic qualification. Her direct competitor in the under 78 kg category, Audrey Tcheuméo, only finished in 5th place at the Grand Slam in Tbilisi (Georgia) last week.