Steven Da Costa did it! Three months after his Olympic title, the tricolor karateka managed to secure his place for the finals of the World Championships on Saturday in Dubai. Short of form, especially because of the many post-Olympic solicitations, he expected a difficult entry into the matter on Wednesday, even admitting "to force himself a little to go there". “I'm still on the same page, these world championships are too close to the Olympics, I struggled, he admitted after his semi-final. As soon as I got up this morning, I understood that the day was going to be very complicated and that if I wanted to go to the end, I had to accept that it was going to be hard. It was. "
Steven Da Costa successively eliminated Jordy Timmermans 4-0, Kosovar Ylli Cenaj 2-0, Bulgarian Vasil Rivov 3-0, reigning European champion, Greek Dyonisios Xenos 4-2, in order to struggle against the Japanese Soichiro Nakano 3-2, in the semi-final. The French were led 2-0 before reversing the trend. “I was logically led, admits Da Costa, I started to tell myself that it was going to be complicated, I was looking for a hole. I didn't let go of the fight so much that I knew at one point he was going to make a mistake and I had to take advantage of it, but he pumped me a lot of juice. "
Before playing the final on Saturday, he will tackle the team competition on Friday, notably with his two brothers, Jessie and Logan.
"We will focus on this team competition before thinking about the final," says Steven Da Costa.
A final is won but the job is done, I validated my place.
In the final on Saturday, it is against Macedonian Emil Pavlov, who was not necessarily expected at this level, that the Frenchman will defend his world crown.
