Absent from the world championships since his tenth and last coronation in 2017, the Frenchman saw his return to this competition crowned with success on Saturday.
The struggle was intense. Success is all the more beautiful. Teddy Riner was forced to go through a real obstacle course to win the gold medal at the world championships in Doha (Qatar), Saturday, May 13. The ten-time world champion, who had not participated in the Worlds since his last coronation in 2017, was not one of the seeds. Despite everything, Riner defeated in quick succession the reigning vice-world champion, the world number one, then in the final the 2021 European champion, Inal Tasoev, a 25-year-old Russian who was able to participate in the competition under a neutral banner. .
Forced to go through the golden score in the round of 16 and quarter-finals, the Frenchman left a lot of strength there. This did not prevent him from sending the world number one, the Tajik Temur Rakhimov, waltzing with an ippon after 28 seconds in the semi-finals, and securing a 12th world medal, that is to say a 23rd in a major career competition.
This is therefore golden, thanks to his success against Tasoev, winner of the Grand Slam of Paris in 2021 but who had not been able to beat Riner during their first two confrontations. Once again, the Habs took over the Russian, who still took him to the golden score and jostled him for a good part of the match.
After three minutes in the golden score, Tasoev even thought to win on a waza-ari but the referee ruled it invalid, leaving the fight to continue. A few seconds later, it was Riner who validated his victory on a waza-ari, this time validated.
The perfect launch pad to Paris 2024
Teddy Riner had announced that he wanted “let go of the watts” in Doha, in order to tick a new box on the way to the Olympic Games. “What I learned in Paris [au Grand Slam, qu’il a remporté en février 2023], is that I was capable of many things. It was important for me to come back on the international scene, to situate myself, to unlock certain things, which is done today, he estimated with AFP before the start of the competition. So when I go to present myself (in Doha), I will free myself a little more.”
This return to the world championships in Doha finally turned into a quest for gold, for his eleventh title in the competition. Not yet at his best one year from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Teddy Riner is more than ever on the way to a third medal at the Olympics, which no judoka has managed to do in his category.