The best grand prix finish by an American since the first event of the year came this weekend and it wasn’t by whom you might expect. Making his first grand prix appearance since the 2016 opener in Havana Colton Brown won his opening two matches to become the first American to reach the quarterfinals since Havana. Brown had an ippon to beat Kazakhstan’s Meirambek Zhangabay and defeated Ukraine’s Vadym Synyavsky with a waza-ari. Brown was finally defeated in the quarterfinals by Azerbaijan’s Mammadali Mehdiyev. Brown was penalized four times with a shido in the match leading to an automatic victory for Mehdiyev. Brown had a repechage match against Russia’s Mihael Zgank but lost via ippon to miss out on a bronze medal match.

No other Americans got wins on Sunday. Mark Fletcher and Ajax Tadehara, both in the men’s -100kg division, lost their openers. Tadehara lost to Jason Koster of New Zealand on a yuko while Fletcher lost to Estonia’s Grigori Minaskin on a quick ippon. Fletcher was competing in his first grand prix event of 2016. Over on the women’s side Nina Cutro-Kelly in the +78kg division lost her opener via ippon to Lithuania’s Santa Pakenyte.

The next judo grand prix stop isn’t until June 25th in Budapest, Hungary. In the meantime the prestigious Masters tournament takes place in Guadalajara, Mexico starting May 27th.

Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Almaty Preview
Friday Update
Saturday Update