2012 gold medalist Kayla Harrison won her first gold in three Judo Grand Prix/Slam events this year as she took top honors in the women’s -78kg division in Budapest, Hungary. Harrison needed 11 seconds to get an ippon over Slovenia’s Klara Apotekar in the quarterfinals but over three minutes to score a similar result over the Netherlands’ Karen Stevenson in the semifinals. Harrison won the final over Slovenia’s Anamari Velensek with only a yuko on the board. Harrison has now won a gold, silver, and bronze between her three events this year in Budapest, Havana, and Paris.

Things didn’t go so well for the two American men. Travis Stevens competed in the men’s -90kg division instead of his traditional -81kg division, except he didn’t really compete. He was entered in the draw but did not take to the mat against Hungary’s Gabor Ver. Colton Brown had a first round bye but lost to Great Britain’s Max Stewart on a yuko.

The next Judo Grand Prix event is in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia next weekend starting Friday and running through Sunday.

Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Budapest Preview
Saturday Update