On the road to an unprecedented third Olympic heavyweight title this summer in Paris, Teddy Riner has the opportunity on Sunday to build confidence by winning a record eighth victory at the Paris Grand Slam.
Title holder in the capital, he beat the South Korean Kim Min-jong in the final to achieve a record eighth success at the Paris Grand Slam and thus overtake his compatriots Lucie Décosse and Clarisse Agbégnénou, who won gold on Saturday in -63 kg.
Riner made his return to the tatami mats in individual competition, nine months after his eleventh coronation as world champion, in Doha, Qatar.
The 34-year-old Frenchman started the day against the Kazakh Galymzhan Krikbay, disqualified after three penalties in 2 min 28, then against the South Korean Jaegu Youn, mowed down in just 42 seconds.
In the quarter, he pinned 22-year-old German Losseni Kone to the ground after 2:32.
In the semi-final, the French judoka had a few scares against the Uzbek Alisher Yusupov.
For a few seconds, Bercy and its approximately 15,000 spectators were silent.
Yusupov had brought down the French giant, but the ippon was ultimately downgraded to a single point (waza-ari) after video refereeing: Riner had not been thrown directly onto his back.
After equalizing, the Frenchman made a decisive attack in the last thirty seconds.
More information to come...