Two years after being crowned Olympic champion, the French judoka returned to international success, becoming world champion -63kg for the sixth time on Wednesday.
She is back, and in what way! Less than a year after becoming a mother, Clarisse Agbégnénou once again became world judo champion in the -63 kg category, Wednesday May 10 in Doha, Qatar. After a smooth run until the final, the resident of the Red Star club of Champigny beat the Slovenian Andreja Leski to win gold, her sixth coronation. Once again at the top of the world hierarchy, the Frenchwoman is now aiming for Olympic gold in Paris.
Faced with an opponent she had already beaten in the final of the 2021 worlds, the double Olympic champion perfectly managed her fight, for her eighth final in eight participations in the worlds (six wins, two losses), accompanying a waza-ari of an immobilization quickly transformed into an ippon. While her biggest rival so far, the Slovenian Tina Trstenjaik, retired after the Tokyo Games, Clarisse Agbégnénou showed that she did not intend to let anyone dislodge her, andShe who dedicated her victory to her daughter Athena, making an “A” with her fingers when she left the tatami.
“No problem, everything works”
Entangled in a tussle with her federation, Clarisse Agbégnénou has not had a very quiet last few months. And as she rediscovers the joys of victory, the champion confided that she was not the “to take revenge“, she who now intends to retain an Olympic title for which she knows”that there are still things to work on“.
To win the sixth coronation, which she describes as “more difficult” to obtain, the Francilienne brilliantly passed each of the rounds until the final. Falling to 17th in the world, she consecutively dismissed the Serbian Anja Obradovic, the Cuban Maylin Del Toro Carvajal, the Israeli Gili Sharir, the Canadian Catherine Beauchemin- Pinard and finally the Austrian Lubjana Piovesana in the semi-finals.Moved after her victory, she did not hide that she had “bworked a lot, cried a lot to get here“.
It is the fourth medal of the French clan during these worlds, the first in gold, after the bronze medals ofAmanda Buchard and of Walide Khyar and the silver medal Shirin Boukli. At the start of the day, Alpha Djalo lost in the third round in the -81 kg category, against South Korean Joonhwan Lee, future bronze medalist.
Tomorrow, Alexis Mathieu and Maxime-Gael Ngayap Hambou in -90 kg, and Marie Eve Gahié in -70 kg, will defend their chances.